Foolish
by Kayka-chan
Summary: Derek is such a foolish person. Honestly. DerekXChloe
1. Window to the Soul

**Well, hey thar. Welcome to the first chapter.**

**It might be a little slow at first, but it will get better. I PROMISE!**

**Disclaimer: Not much to say here except that I don't own the Darkest Powers and I want a taco.**

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_Foolish_

Chapter One

----XX----

_An insomniac in my blood,  
rises to the fore,  
and slips some heartfelt words,  
in a rhythmic glitter,  
and whispers them,  
in the ear of the sleepless night.  
_----XX----

The smell of the forest outside of the haven that Andrew had led them to smelt more comforting to Derek than anything he had smelled in a good long while. There was something about the space and the freedom of the forest that had both him and the wolf content. There was very little pollution out here and the annoying sounds of cars and their alarms wouldn't dare try to infiltrate this peace.

Derek slowed his pace and leaned his back against a nearby tree, reminding himself not to get too far away from the house. He pushed his limp hair out of his face and leaned his head back so it rested on the bark taking deep breaths and reveling in the feel of his heart pounding against his chest in a fast rhythm of beats. He let a small contented smile worm its way onto his face as he breathed in through his nose, taking in the scent of rabbit.

Andrew had been reluctant to let Derek go out for a run, telling him that it was stupid and dangerous to do that when the Edison Group could be near. Derek had, of course, already gone over most of the scenarios in his mind and knew that it was not the best idea he had ever had. He had planned on going back to sleep.

The wolf was itching, though, angry at being kept from its exercise. So, after a good hour of lying down, standing up and walking off his restlessness, and lying back down again only to repeat the process, Derek was forced to play the role of whiny teenager. And, after a mound of reassurances, he was allowed to go. He just had to stay close to the house and get out of there as soon as he even thought he heard/smelt something wrong.

The very thought was laughable. The way the forest was made it seem like nothing could be wrong. As if to prove him wrong, off to the side his super-hearing picked up the high pitched squeals of an animal in distress. He turned his head towards the sound, sampling the air attentively. The smell of fresh blood came his way, mingled with the scent of cigarettes, but those were old.

He picked his way over the fallen leaves and tree roots that bulged from the ground. He looked over a log and saw a small furry creature that was immediately identified as a vole struggling in a trap, its leg ripped and blood matting its fur. The smell of cigarettes was coming off of the trap.

Derek wasn't stupid, he knew that even if he got the vole out of its trap that it would die anyway. Whether it would get eaten or it would die of blood loss, he did not know. It would be kinder to just let it die faster. Why did he care? An image of Chloe flashed through his mind, her eyes closed lightly as she tried to summon the spirit of the bird.

She was still asleep, no doubt, and he was glad for it, knowing she had barely slept in three or so days. Partially his fault and he had taken as much blame as she had allowed him to take. Which was none, the stubborn and overly nice twit, but he had been guilty. Her fear of leading a zombie army of accidentally summoned animals was the main reason Derek didn't walk away from the creature.

Derek watched the vole struggle a bit more before sighing lightly and reaching down to un-spring the trap. The vole took a few seconds to get it's bearings before darting off into a hole in a tree, limping heavily. He stood looking at the hole it had just disappeared into before turning and resuming his run, this time, heading for the house.

His sneakers crushed the dead leaves underfoot making a crisp crackling sound to accompany the pounding of his footfalls. He followed his own trail back to the temporary dwelling they had set up camp in for now. Derek inhaled and turned just in time to burst out of the trees and onto the driveway. The early morning sun momentarily blinded him, forcing him to slow to a walk for fright that he might trip.

Derek positioned himself so that the large house blocked the sun and he looked up at its glory. It still looked just as ominous as it first had. He shook his head and a flash of light out of the corner of his eye had him looking to the left bottom window where a light had just been flicked on. The silhouette of a man told him that it was Andrew.

He jogged the rest of the way up the driveway and opened the doors as quietly as he could and flinching when one of the hinges squeaked. Andrew walked down the hallway and offered him a smile that was not really a smile. His body language didn't say that he was all too happy, either. His shoulders were hunched forward ever so slightly, but that's all they needed. Andrew refused to meet his eyes, looking at his nose instead. His posture was one of fear.

Derek nodded at him, feeling about three inches tall. Andrew stopped walking a sensible distance away and looked him up and down.

"You look like you had a good time. Did you run into any trouble?" He inquired watching Derek. Derek shifted uncomfortably under his stare.

"Fine." He answered, his deep voice reverberating around the room. Andrew made a humming noise in the back of his throat. They stood there awkwardly. "I…" Derek started, causing Andrew to jerk in surprise and look at him. "Am going to shower." He finished quickly, fighting the urge to take the stairs two at a time as he rushed up their winding expanse. On the second floor he slowed.

Up here familiar and unfamiliar scents mingled with each other. There was Andrew, Simon, Chloe, and Tori's scents, but there were slightly faded ones that made them almost indistinguishable aside from their gender.

Derek walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind him, the slight sound seemingly louder in the tile-lined room. He took in his reflection in the large mirror. His windblown, acne covered cheeks, dull hair, hulking size. He leaned closer curiously. He had to admit that he looked better than he had in a while. Not that he looked _good_; he just figured that he looked _better_.

He shook his head and turned on the water to let it get warm while he stripped down and hopped in quickly. The warm water crashed onto the top of his head, wetting his hair and sliding down his back, warming him and releasing the tension in his muscles. He swung his head up to look into the water, pushing his hair back out of his face.

He reached behind him carefully, the small shower not offering much room for movement, and felt around for the shampoo. He grabbed onto a bottle and swung it around to make sure it was actually what he was looking for. It was. He popped the top open with a crack and squeezed some of the quickly depleting supply into his hands.

He cleaned himself almost robotically, thinking about Andrew. He missed the good old days when he was not intimidating. When Andrew almost treated him like a son. Not that Andrew was rude to him, he was perfectly nice, but he was wary around him. Nervous.

He tried not to let it bother him and repeatedly told himself that it was really no big deal, that he should be used to it by now. Everyone treated him like that. A sharp knock sounded on the door and Derek's eyes flicked to it, curious who was up as early as him.

"Who's in there?" A familiar voice asked, muffled by the thick door, and causing the wolf half to do something that he still didn't have a name for, but whatever it was, it caused his heart to leap. He turned off the water and grabbed a towel before stepping out of the shower.

"It's me." He responded, securing the towel around his waist before grabbing a smaller one to dry off his hair with. "I'll be out soon." He made sure to raise his voice a little so that she could hear him through the door.

"Oh, no, there's no rush." Chloe quickly answered. He knew she was lying. That was one of the draw backs to this huge house; there was only one bathroom. Tori had thrown a good fit when she found out, violently cursing the architects on their stupidity. Derek was completely fine with it, making a mental note to get in and out quickly.

"Nah. I was getting out anyway." He answered as he ran the towel over his body swiftly, reaching down with the unoccupied hand to grab his clothes. He tossed the towel to the side and dress quickly while Chloe tried to assure him that she really didn't need the bathroom.

He swung the door open and looked down at her through wet strands of hair. She looked back up at him and offered him a small smile, delicate blue eyes shimmering in the faint light. He remembered the fascination that Liam had with her eyes and he knew why. They were a captivating thing. The saying; "Eyes are the windows to the soul." Coming to life with her. If her eyes were that beautiful it was no surprise why she was so kind.

He moved around her carefully. She nodded and said a quiet thank you as she moved to close the door. Derek turned to move down the hallway to his room before he heard her ask him to wait. He turned around to look at her, the light from the bathroom behind her casting a yellow rectangle on the floor.

"Wait for me. I'll be out real fast." She said, waiting until he nodded before shutting the door and turning on the water to the sink. There were some splashing noises and then the water shut off abruptly. Twenty seconds later she reemerged, smiling when she saw him.

"What's up?" he asked her, still a bit cautious of the wolf's reaction. Chloe cleared her throat and stepped up to him. He resisted the urge to lean back away from her. She fiddled with the hem of her shirt and seemed to be choosing her words.

"I… I never said thank you for saving me from a speeding bullet." She said nervously. He inhaled her scent and looked down at her. The way she said it was telling him that she didn't originally want to say that and he was curious as to what it was but shrugged it off.

"No problem. I wasn't going to let you get shot." He said, shifting his weight. She looked up at him with those eyes. She smiled at him and nodded.

"Have you eaten breakfast yet?" Derek blinked, his stomach taking the cue and starting to ache for food.

"Not yet." He responded. Chloe nodded.

"Wait here. I'll go get a sweatshirt and then you can escort me downstairs for breakfast." And then she ran off, leaving him standing there in the dark hallway. The wolf side urged him to follow her and he smashed down the feeling of possessiveness that had both bothered and confused the hell out of him. He didn't get it. He couldn't get it.

He was afraid that he would get it.

He wanted her to stay with him at all times, so he could watch her and make sure she didn't hurt herself. He surprised himself that when Simon had held her hand he had wanted to snap his wrist. It wasn't really hard to understand why he had growled at Liam, but the feeling of keeping him away from Chloe at all costs had caused his brain to blip out and only have the wolf snarling at the man.

"Derek!"

He jerked and looked down at Chloe, his scowl softening. She was looking up at him with a confused expression. "C'mon." she said walking away and waving with her hand for him to follow.

Wanna know the weird thing?

He did.

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**Did you like it? **

**Please review.**


	2. Kitchen Capers

**I'M BAAAACK!**

**But that's okay because I have another chapter. w00t, yes?**

**Disclaimer: Okay look, I do not own them. I do this because it is entertaining and I'm already tired of waiting for The Reckoning to come out. Okay officer? Now get the hell out of my house!**

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_Foolish_

Chapter Two

----XX----

_Dark skies surround me  
Leave me feeling so alone  
Destiny unknown  
_----XX----

"Did you just _burn_ hot chocolate?" Derek asked, leaning over Chloe's head and peering down at the black tinged and very hot looking mud-colored substance in her coffee cup. "Is that even possible?" Chloe was blushing and avoiding eye contact. Derek had already eaten his breakfast, a few tasty bagels, but Chloe had wanted something a little more…extravagant than just toast.

She wanted hot chocolate.

Andrew had warned them to be careful around the microwave because it was touchy and Derek had, kindly, reminded her of this fact. She had just laughed at him and said that he worried too much.

Now, here they stood; two people out of the billions on the planet. The only difference was that one of them was right and feeling rather smug about it, while the other was mortified, with a slightly smoking cup of molten sludge in front of them.

"Okay, okay. You told me so. I know." Chloe said glumly as she carefully tipped the cup upside down over the sink. They both made disgusted faces when it didn't come out right away and Chloe had to shake it a bit. It slid out in one large jello-y goop, landing in the sink with a wet _slap_.

Derek cleared his throat and turned away to hide his slight gag. Chloe gave him a look out of the corner of her eye as she picked up a fork and poked the goop down the drain. It was fairly quiet in the room as Chloe turned on the garbage disposal and it whirred loudly, the blades scratching against each other with a sound only Derek's sensitive ears could pick up, causing him to wince.

Chloe flicked the switch and the metallic screeching stopped. Derek relaxed. Chloe turned to look at him. "So, um…" she balled up one of her hands and brought it to her mouth, clearing her esophagus loudly. "What else is there for breakfast?" She finished looking up at him shamefacedly. Derek let a small chuckle bounce around his chest.

"There was some fruit, a couple of bagels are left," He went to the fridge and pulled it open, cold air flying out to meet him. He bent at the waist and looked into the appliance. "Something that Eggo made. It might be some waffles. I think. Dunno. They look sorta old." He glanced over at Chloe who was bent down next to him. She met his gaze. "I wouldn't eat them if I were you. They smell like they're freezer burnt."

Chloe shook her head. "An apple sounds real good right now." She said. Derek reached into the fridge and grabbed an apple. He tossed it to Chloe who made a few yipping noises as she struggled to catch it. It slipped from her fingers and she bent to catch it the same time Derek did.

Derek cracked his chin on the top of her head and he bit his tongue. He grunted and shot back up again rubbing his jaw while Chloe crouched on the floor holding her head. The apple lay forgotten on the floor, wobbling back and forth, tauntingly. Derek knelt down swiftly to look at Chloe, a sudden panic grabbing his heart when he knew that she _should_ be fine. _Normally_ that wouldn't hurt her.

He wasn't normal. For all he knew, he could have just given her a concussion with his chin. "Chloe?" he asked trying to get her to look at him. She did and offered him a shaky smile, eyes watering. He frowned and grabbed onto her chin, gently tilting her head down so he could look at the injury site. It _looked_ fine…

"Derek, I'm okay." Chloe said tapping her fingers on the floor, her short nails making clicking noises. He released her chin and she looked up at him, any trace of watery eyes gone, a reassuring smile in place. "Really, I'm fine."

Derek couldn't deny the feeling of relief. His wolf side was happy. Real happy. It was ridiculous how happy the wolf was. The only thing that Derek could think as he sat back against the counter, watching Chloe pick up the apple and wash it off in the sink, was that he was so glad that he was in control right now, not the wolf because he didn't know what he would have done otherwise.

He was shaken from his thoughts by a crisp snapping noise as Chloe bit into the evil fruit. He looked up, the sweet smell of the juice wafting from her now. Derek inhaled deeply. _God_ it smelt so good…

"…You sleep?" She asked looking at him expectantly. Derek blinked. He had no idea she was even talking.

"What?" he asked making sure to look at her face and not at her lips, which were shimmering slightly in the light due to the apple juice. His own mouth was watering now in reflex to the scent. Chloe cocked her head to the side.

"I asked you how you slept." She informed him before taking another chunk of the apple off with her teeth. He blinked again. There was almost no sound in the kitchen aside from the sound of Chloe chewing and the breathing of them both. Then he remembered he had to answer. Duh.

"I slept fine." He answered, standing up and towering over her again. Her eyes followed him all the way up. It always surprised him how small she seemed compared to him. Most people were, but with Chloe, she was especially small for some reason. He glanced at the clock on the microwave of doom and saw that it said it was only six thirty. This then caused him to wonder why she was up so early. "Why are you up so early?"

She chewed slower and looked out the window past him. Then she shrugged, her chewing pace resuming. "I just woke up and couldn't get back to sleep." She replied simply. Derek was quiet. She wasn't being truthful. If she didn't want to tell him then it wasn't his problem. He knew that, but…

He wanted to know.

"That's not what happened is it." He did say it like a question. He stated it. Chloe blushed lightly at being caught and turned to grab a napkin and wipe her lips off. He waited patiently.

"It's not. No." She told him sheepishly. Derek leaned himself back against the counter and peered down at her through his hair, dry now. He gestured for her to continue when she got a distant look on her face. Chloe nodded and said; "It's just… There's a ghost in the room next to mine. She wouldn't stop crying, even when I tried to talk to her. I could find her, I could just here someone crying."

She looked at the floor and fiddled with the apple stem, a dark cloud seemingly descending over her head, the smile that had been on her face evaporating faster than water on a hot day. Not for the first time, Derek felt glad that he wasn't a necromancer.

Not that he was happy with being a werewolf, but he was glad he didn't have to deal with dead people or see the things she had to but never should have. He felt bad for her, but didn't want to give her pity. He tilted his head to the side looking down at her, uncrossing his arms from in front of him and pushing off the counter.

"Hey, Chloe." He said. She looked up at him. "It's okay. Don't worry. We can just get you another room." There was a grateful light in her eyes and she smiled a smile that had the corner of his mouth twitching. He looked away from her eyes and say that she had a clump of dust in her hair. A twinge of annoyance spiked up suddenly at the sight of this insignificant speck along with the question as to where the heck it came from. Then there was the strongest urge to reach up and flick it off…

Almost on its own accord his hand reached up. Derek stopped it when Chloe looked at him and asked him what. He had to practically force his hand down. "You have some dust in your hair." He said after clearing his throat.

Chloe said; "Oh." And ran her fingers through her hair, each time asking him if she got it out and each time missing it, his annoyance growing. Finally, he let the wolf have its way and he reached up and gently grabbed onto the dust, pulling it off and running the strand of hair through his fingers.

"It's gone now." He said awkwardly. Chloe reached up and held onto the hair he had touched while he stood there stupidly with a piece of lint in his fingers. They looked at each other. Her liquid eyes consuming.

_Suffocating_.

The wolf inside him was itching. He wanted to dominate. He wanted Chloe, or wanted "That bitch." The wolf knew he could do it. No one else was awake and according to the scent coming off of her she wouldn't mind if he did. Andrew wouldn't be a problem. He was probably upstairs in the library. The wolf egged him on. Derek's control was dangerously close to snapping and her _eyes_…

She looked away, cheeks tinted slightly. Derek took a step away from her, cleared his throat again, and walked the long way around to the garbage can while the wolf was practically howling with anger. He tossed the lint ball into the trash and stood there taking deep breaths and shoving the wolf back into place.

"Leave me alone." He said under his breath. The wolf grumbled and then was silent. Derek sighed in relief and turned to her again. She was finishing off the apple and wiping off her face with the, now dirty, napkin. Derek hoped the wolf would stay silent so that they could have a simple conversation without any stupid interruptions…

There was a loud thump from upstairs and Derek automatically knew that Simon was awake. He tilted his head to the side and listened just to be sure that it wasn't just Andrew dropping a book… or ten. A garbled cuss at stubbing his toe on the wall confirmed that Simon was among the living. And that he was hungry.

That meant that he would be in the kitchen soon and that Derek would no longer be needed for Chloe entertainment. That he could get away from her and her intoxicating smell before the wolf came back and did something horrible to her.

That, and the kitchen seemed to be a disaster point for him today.

Simon stomped his way down the stairs and burst into the kitchen, smiling and slapping him on the back on his way to Chloe. Or the refrigerator.

Probably both.

He told Chloe good morning and she smiled and said good morning back. Then they began to chit chat about things that they chit chatted about. It was… distracting.

He turned and left the kitchen, needing some place to cool his head.

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**Was it good? Or too short? I can make them longer if you want.**

**Review please!**


	3. An Encounter with Lust

**Salutations! **

**Okay a little bit of informational information for you before you read; The black cat is the medieval symbol for lust and I know because I did mah research. **

**Disclaimer: Once upon a time... I DIDN'T OWN DARKEST POWERS!**

_Foolish_

Chapter Three

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Lust is what I speak tonight,  
Lust is what I see tonight,  
Lust is what I feel tonight,  
And I Lust You.

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Books were his new favorite thing. No question about it.

Derek had been in the library for _at least_ three hours, just sitting among the books and relaxing, breathing in their smell. Some of them smelt bad or old and caused him to sneeze but, mostly, they were good. They never talked to him and interrupted his train of thought, nor were they scared of him.

He had taken to reading the titles of the books after the first hour. Most of them were normal books, Westerns, Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Action, etcetera. There were some seriously messed up titles, though, his favorite so far, and the one that had made him laugh out loud was;

"Games You Can Play with Your Pussy".

Dead serious, that was the title of the book. It was a paper back with the picture of a bored looking cat on the front. Personally, Derek figured they just kept it there for laughs because the book didn't seem to be read too much. The back-binding was still stiff and the book still smelt of glue, which usually went away the more you read the book.

After a few more giggles at the book's expense, he had continued the wander around the library, reveling in the quiet because even Tori's snores couldn't reach him here. He was happy that the wolf seemed to find the library boring and was silent, another reason for books being his new best friend.

Leisurely, he ran his fingers down the splayed spine of an old looking book, its title worn away by many years of reading, so many scents of so many different people on the book that they mingled. He pulled it out of the shelf and looked at the faded title.

An old mystery, that's all it was. Derek's eyebrows scrunched in confusion, wondering why it would be so thoroughly read if this was all it was. He flipped through the pages quickly, not noticing anything out of the ordinary. It did have a different smell though. Lavender.

Lavender and…

There was a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, too fast to be perceived. He whipped his head in its direction, sampling the air. All he could smell was the lavender. Even though his instinct told him "No!" he placed the book back in the shelf and slowly inched his way toward the movement.

When he got out of the aisle he looked back and forth. He saw nothing. Then it was there again, a quick flash then gone. He moved carefully towards it. At the end of the aisle, he came to a dead end. He had found nothing.

Derek sighed and turned to go back to the book. Then there was a meow. He froze and turned, looking down at a black cat sitting on top of a pile of books and looking up at him with freaky yellow eyes. Derek looked side to side again before backing up, knowing how well him and animals got along.

The cat just meowed again and stood up, stretching itself out, before hopping off of the books and walking away. Derek stared after it, in something relative to shock. The cat stopped and turned to him, meowing again. It didn't take a genius to figure out what the cat wanted.

Derek looked at it nervously, looked back down the aisle and then took a few careful and hesitant steps toward the cat. That was where he ran into trouble. The wolf came back with a snarl, warning him not to follow the cat. _The trickster._

He had no idea what the wolf was talking about, but stopped moving nonetheless, because for as long as the wolf has been bothering him, Derek had learned one thing especially fast ;he was usually right about things like this.

The cat sat down and watched Derek. Derek watched right back, judging whether to walk away. Then the cat stood up and yowled.

Derek's world went black.

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He was running, and yet it didn't feel that way. His breath heaved out in a fast cadence and his tongue lolled around past his sharp canines. His paws thudded the ground and the moon behind the trees cast enough light to give the surrounding foliage an unearthly glow.

He ran up onto a rock jutting out over a ravine and took in a deep breath, the cold autumn air burning his lungs in a wonderful way. His nose caught the scent of a rabbit and his mouth snapped shut as he turned towards the smell. He tested the air again just to be certain it was alive yet and not some leftover kill from another animal.

It wasn't.

He turned quickly and resumed his run, this time in the direction of the rabbit. The wolf weaved around trees and bushes, leaped over felled logs and other obstructions in his path. The feeling of invincibility mingled with an explosive joy at being so free swelled to burst in his chest.

He slowed to a lope when the scent of rabbit got stronger, stopping and lowering onto his haunches when the prey came into view. It was huddled next to a ratty looking bush, sleeping. He closed his mouth and took a few careful steps forward. The wind changed and blew his own scent at the rabbit.

It opened its eyes almost immediately and sprung up, running away. The wolf bounded after it.

The hunt was on.

It was a short chase, the wolf over powering the rabbit in no time flat. He ran up alongside it and twisted his head sideways, snapping his jaws closed on the rabbit's neck. The rabbit made a distressed squealing noise as he squeezed, warm blood gushing into his mouth and staining the pelt around it. Then the neck snapped and the anxious sounds ceased.

The wolf released his prey and did a quick scan of the area before ripping into his prize. He devoured it and licked his jaws somewhat proudly. A breeze ruffled his fur around and brought with it a familiar smell, one that had the wolf's tail wagging happily as he trotted off to its source.

The trees grew more and more mangled as he walked, almost trying to force him into not going farther, but the wolf wasn't giving up. He fought his way through the flora with a determination that was almost frightening. The twisted trees suddenly broke through and then the wolf was standing in a circular clearing, surrounded by the same think and gnarled trees that he had just made his way out of, in the center sat a large rock. The wolf walked towards it.

Perched on the rock, facing away from him was a woman in a long white dress that seemed almost silver in the moonlight, bathing her in a harmoniously beautiful radiance. The wolf's black fur seemed an unholy black compared to this woman. He stopped and sat down, woofing softly to alert her of his presence.

The woman turned around to face him, smiling just as brilliantly as the clothing that adorned her slim figure. She jumped off of the rock, skirt sliding up slightly and revealing her bare feet that hit the ground in a spray of dew. She walked over to him and knelt, running her hands along his sides and head gently in a caress.

He whined quietly and nuzzled her cheek, tongue peeking out to lick her quickly, and his tail wagging sideways. Her smell washed over him, comforting and intoxicating. Then it was infiltrated by the smell of lavender.

A movement of black off to the side provided him with the vision of the same cat he had seen in the library. The wolf stood up quickly, moving the woman behind him and growling at the cat. The cat let a tinkling laugh echo out as it shifted, a shadow descending over it.

When the shadow cleared a woman dressed in black with eerie yellow eyes looked down at him. Tall, she was, with long silver hair, and a heavy application of blood red lipstick on plump lips. She was well adorned with some rather large breasts and a definite flair in her hips.

"Come now, Derek. There is no need for such…hostility." She purred out. The wolf's growling stopped abruptly as the sweet smell of the woman behind him left and he turned to see that the female herself had vanished. He turned back to the cat-woman who laughed daintily again.

"No worries, she was never really here." The black cat said again, voice like silk. She moved towards him gracefully. Her eyes smoldered as she looked down at the wolf. "This is but a dream after all. If you want her back," the woman said, eyes flicking to the right. The wolf followed her gaze and saw that the woman was back. She smiled down at him, blue eyes glowing. "You just have to think of her."

He didn't want to get near the woman now that he knew she wasn't real and instead turned to the cat, silently wondering what she was and how she got here. The cat flashed her eyes back onto him. "I am Lust, Derek. I bring you who you desire most." She explained, waving her hand towards the woman. "You desire Chloe and so she is here."

The wolf snarled defensively. Lust shook her head, holding up a hand. "You are the wolf Derek. Whom he lusts for, you do too." She once again returned her gaze to the woman. "Though, I must admit," She said, bringing her hand up to her face and cocking her head to the side as she studied the Chloe-illusion. "Most men I visit in dreams usually want their desires nude."

Lust flinched as he growled loudly. "I'm not trying to be offensive, I'm just stating that I find it somewhat …sweet that you just want your desire to be with you and accept you instead of naked and riding you." The wolf made a low rumbling sound that was reminiscent to a complaint. Lust laughed daintily. "I have no doubt the wolf thinks of her as his mate, Derek, and there's nothing wrong with that.

"But you are the wolf, as I have said before." She told him smiling crookedly and wrapping her arms around her chest. He was quiet, green eyes glowing in the moonlight, before uttering one grumble that could be used as a curse and pacing in a slow circle. "Accepting it will make this easier." Lust told him waving her hand at the woman again. "Or do you not want her?"Dream Chloe vanished.

The wolf sat there starting at the spot where she had been moments before, smelling the air for any traces of her and when he found none, looked back at Lust and lowered one ear, a high pitched whine issuing itself from his throat. Lust sighed and grumbled.

"Make up your mind, boy."

Then the Chloe was back and wrapping her arms around his thick neck in an embrace. Lust smiled and looked on sweetly. "You two make such a cute couple." She looked off to the side suddenly and appeared to be listening to something.

"I don't have much time left before you're supposed to wake up so what do you want her to do? Pole dance? Wrestle with another girl in whip crème?" The wolf sighed and turned his head into "Chloe's" arm. Lust rolled her eyes. "Or she could just hug you, I suppose." Then she turned away and muttered; "Party pooper."

He just stood up, Chloe letting go of him and smiling down at him while he gently took her sleeve into his mouth and tugged. The smile grew and she stood up, brushing off her white gown as she followed him. He went over to the rock and curled up at its base. Chloe sat next to him and stroked his fur.

The wolf closed his eyes lazily and tilted his head sideways so that his ear lay on her thigh. They sat that way for heaven knows how long, time only marked by the complaints of Lust and the steady stroke of Chloe's fingers down his back.

Then something was different. Darker, somehow.

The wolf opened his eyes and sat up his ears craning forward to catch any sound, still not sure what was off. He looked around. The forest seemed to have a veil pulled over it, darker and fuzzy. The wolf inhaled deeply, catching nothing but the scent of the two women in the clearing.

"It is time, Derek." Lust said, sounding sad and alluring at the same time. The wolf turned to look at her curiously. "Time for me to leave you." She said, turning her back to him and propping one of her hands on a hip. The wolf twisted his head around quickly to look back at Chloe, who was also looking confused.

"She must leave too," Lust was starting to sound far away. "But, Derek," He looked at her. She smiled. "The real thing would be better, don't you think?" she asked him, voice muffled, nodding towards the dream Chloe. He pulled himself to his feet and stood there, head cocked to the side and green eyes glinting at her in the darkness.

Lust rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Boy, if you only knew what she dreamed about when I visited her, you wouldn't be thinking that." And then she vanished. The wolf backed up, shaking his head back and forth.

"Derek?" A familiar voice echoed around him. The wolf twisted around to look at the dream Chloe, still sitting there and looking at him, but blurred. He whined.

"Derek?" Her voice was softer now and still echoed. She vanished. He was left alone in the dark, a lone wolf with no pack or place to call home…

"Derek!"

----XX----

Derek jerked away again when someone shook his shoulder and he grabbed onto the appendage. He looked around him curiously, noticing he was still in the library, the old and worn mystery book still in his hand. He lifted it up and looked at it curiously.

It didn't smell of lavender anymore.

"Hey, Derek? Could you let me go, please? It hurts…" Chloe's voice said in front of him. He whipped his head forward and saw he had the forearm wrapped in bandages clenched in his hand. Derek dropped it quickly and mumbled an apology. She just rubbed her arm and smiled at him.

He looked around his surroundings again. He could smell Simon in the room and knew they had come looking for him. Chloe had just found him first. Derek turned his attention back up to Chloe who was looking him over with her eyes.

"What time is it?" Derek asked her. She looked up at him and then looked down at a watch strapped to her wrist.

"It is…" she squinted at the numbers. "Quarter to noon." Then she looked back up at him. "Were you asleep this whole time? I thought you said you slept well." She was winding up to give him a lecture and Derek didn't really want that right now. He held up his hand and rubbed his temples like he had a headache, hoping she didn't take it offensively.

"Is there a reason that you came looking for me?" He asked her tiredly. Chloe looked him up and down then nodded and plopped back against the book shelf across from him.

"Andrew said he had something that he wanted to tell us. We had to wake Tori up, too." She flinched and rubbed her arm. "We really could have used you for that." Derek smiled and stood up stretching his arms above himself. They cracked in three different places and he winced.

From a few aisles down, Derek heard the sounds of his brother snickering as he said; "'Games You Can Play with Your Pussy'? God, Andrew is weird…"

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**I made it longer this time, was it good?**

**Review please!**

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	4. Through the Floor

**Hello again! **

**Okay, I have a plan! The plan is that I will update weekly on Saturday. I might be a little late sometimes and I'll let you know if I will miss a week. I hope that's okay with every one!**

**Disclaimer: I created Darkest Powers the day I flew to the moon in a cardboard box.**

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_Foolish_

Chapter Four

----XX----

_I guess life is just like that,  
To fear for no reason,  
For to fear is not to reason,  
But to reason is to fear._

----XX----

"We're going to be expecting a guest sometime in the week." Andrew informed them after a good minute of building up the suspense. Derek was let down and he could tell by the droop of Chloe's shoulders, Simon's scrunched eyebrows, and Tori's right out look of shock that they were also disappointed. Andrew, apparently, didn't see why they weren't excited. Chloe took the hint and piped up.

"Who is it?" she asked, making herself sound excited. Derek rolled his eyes, but listened. Andrew smiled down at Chloe who was sitting on the sofa in between Simon and Tori. Derek was leaning against the wall next to the couch with his arms crossed over his chest.

"I'm glad that you asked that in particular, Chloe," He said, once again using the tone that he did when he was trying to make things seem more exciting than they really are. "Because, she's coming to see you." He finished and beamed down at her. Chloe looked confused while everyone else looked at her.

"M-me? Why?" she asked, putting a hand up to brush her fingers across the necklace tied around her neck. Andrew waved dismissively.

"You're not in trouble. On the contrary, I contacted the only other necromancer that I know and asked her to come by and help you out. All though," He frowned. "I don't know when she'll get here. She's… a little unpredictable." When Chloe looked stricken Andrew laughed and shook his head. "Not crazy unpredictable, just… whimsical. She goes where she wants to when she wants to _how_ she wants to. However, she did say she would get here within a week."

Tori raised her hand, the gesture itself just reeking with snark. "Uh, excuse me? That's all fine and dandy for Chloe but what does that have to do with the rest of us?" She asked casting pointed looks and Simon and Derek. Andrew looked down at her.

"I didn't want any of you getting worried if there was suddenly a strange woman in the house." He took a moment to think about his choice of words before saying; "Not that I still don't want you to be worried about strangers, but—"

"Yes, yes. _Stranger danger_, we know. Would it be alright if I go now?" Tori asked, pointing out the fact she hadn't put any makeup on yet. Derek fought the urge to roll his eyes. Andrew just stared at her for a few beats before shrugging dismissively.

"Sure." He said. Tori heaved herself off of the divan and shuffled out of the room. Andrew watched her go and then turned his attention back to the rest of the group. "You guys can go, too. Just keep in mind what I said about my friend."

Derek pushed himself off of the wall and walked towards the door, pulling it open the rest of the way and exiting, Simon and Chloe on his heels. There were a few moments of silence.

"So, that's got to be exciting." Simon said, turning to Chloe and breaking the quiet. Derek walked up the stairs and they creaked as the other two continued trailing him. He listened to their conversation.

"Yeah, it is." Chloe agreed. Derek's brow furrowed slightly. Simon didn't notice it but Derek did; the waver of her voice that gave away her nerves. He would have thought that Chloe would be happy that she didn't have to worry about losing control of her powers. That the woman was going to help her with that. The more thought he gave to it, the more her nervousness made sense.

He had seen what only a few weeks of seeing ghosts had done to Chloe, how she had reacted to the appearances, but for a full grown woman who saw ghosts her whole life? Was she even _sane_ anymore? Derek stopped on the landing and turned half way to look down the rest of the stairs at the two lolli-gagging behind.

"I think I'm going to go back to that library Derek was hanging out it. I saw some cool books on Sorcery and I wanted to check them out. Anyone wanna come with?" Simon asked, looking Chloe in the eye. She blushed a delicate shade of red and Derek took a deep breath to keep the first twinge of something relative to jealousy from waking the wolf back up.

"Um," Chloe started, glancing over at him so fast he almost didn't catch it. "I don't think so. I just feel like exploring." She explained. Simon's shoulders drooped and then he looked over at Derek, who shook his head; 'No.'

"I was in there all morning." He explained, putting his hands in his pockets. Simon sighed and turned to walk towards the library. He raised a hand and waved it behind him.

"Your loss." He sang, throwing his voice so that it reached them. Derek smiled to himself and tilted his head to the side so that his long hair slid out of his line of sight. He watched Simon walk down the long hallway without looking back once. Then he was gone and it was just him and Chloe.

Chloe looked up at him and he looked down at the same time. She smiled up at him shyly and tucked a wispy strand of hair behind her ear, traces of the black still imbedded in it. She brought her hand back down to her side again and ran the opposite hand down the bandages that hid her stitches.

"So, um… Do you want to go exploring?" Chloe asked him. Derek weighed the risks to this, and, when he could find _almost_ none, he agreed. She smiled up at him and started walking in the opposed way that Simon had gone. "I think I saw the stairs to the attic over here…"

----XX----

The stairs to the attic weren't over there.

Derek flinched in disgust as a cobweb stuck itself in his hair and he flicked it off. Chloe stepped carefully, the floors making odd creaky noises when she did stride with her whole weight. So far all they had found was a really old part of the building that smelt prehistoric and dusty. His nose hurt from sneezing so many times.

However, Chloe was determined to find this attic. She had refused to go back even when Derek suggested they go get something to eat for lunch. She had said that she wasn't hungry. He knew that some of the groans weren't the floor boards but really her stomach complaining.

He had to confess that her willpower was a thing to admire, though. He would have given up long ago and just gone down stairs to eat something. He coughed quietly as he tried to catch the scent of anything and caught a nose full of dust instead. Chloe looked around at the dust covered walls and huffed in frustration.

"They're around here somewhere, I know it." She mumbled to herself for the fifteen _billionth_ time. She stumbled on her own feet and Derek's muscles tensed, ready to catch her if she didn't do it herself. Chloe whipped her arms out and steadied herself on the wall. "Whoo. That was close…" she said after a shaky laugh. Derek rolled his eyes and reached over, gently grabbing onto her elbow and helping her right herself.

Chloe didn't even seem to notice as she wiped her hand on her shirt. "The walls feel disgusting." She whispered. Derek reached over her head and ran one of his fingers down the wall. She was right. He didn't know if it was the dust or the age of the wood that made it feel that way, but it felt slippery in some spots and gritty in others.

He wiped his finger on his pants and watched Chloe as she carefully picked her way along the debris that lined the floor suddenly. Derek stepped forward to follow her and then stopped when the wolf gave a soft warning grunt. It was just a quick warning to be careful, but Derek was still worried. If the wolf was bothering him again then something had to be wrong.

And even then he didn't need the wolf to tell him that something was wrong. His own instincts were sharp enough to gather that the place was not a good place. There was a chill in the air that had the hair on his arms rising. This was enough. He wasn't going to keep letting Chloe walk around someplace he didn't think was safe.

"Hey, Chloe," He said softly. She stopped and turned to look back at him. He wondered when she got so far ahead of him as he took one step forward carefully. "We should go back now. Something feels wrong." He told her.

Chloe looked back behind her once before turning back to him and nodding. He felt himself relax now that he knew they were going to be out of here soon. She walked forward and then the sounds of wood creaking caused both him and the wolf to tense up.

The sound was coming from right under Chloe's feet…

He mumbled a violent curse as he rushed forward the same exact time the wolf barked at him to help her. Chloe looked at him, and then noticed what her problem was. She began to run towards him too. Her eyes were scared and he was sure his own were just as frightened.

There was a loud and harsh crack as the floor under her feet gave way and she fell with a sharp and short note of a scream. His heart leapt into his throat and he shouted her name as the wolf howled for him to save his mate.

Derek dove forward and grabbed onto her outstretched hand.

_Get her, get her, GET HER!_

He mentally told the wolf to shut up as he lay on his stomach and swung his other hand down. "Grab on." He told her. Chloe looked up at him and reached her other hand up to grasp onto his. Derek began to pull her up, muscles straining.

Not that she was heavy, because she wasn't, he was just trying real hard not to squeeze her hands into oblivion while still keeping a good grip on them, and stopping her from cutting herself on the jagged pieces of wood jutting out from the sides of the hole that she was down in at the same time. Not an easy thing to do. At all.

The only thing he could see was the vision of her hanging down there suspended above darkness that was hard to see into even for him. He could see just enough to let him know it would be very, very bad if she fell. The floor below was concrete and there were pipes, of all things, sitting on the bottom. That was all it took for his mind to get wiped blank and for the wolf to take over.

He let a growl slip out of his throat accidentally at the thought of her plummeting down and cracking her head against the stone floor. It was enough to have him standing up and pulling her up into the air quickly. She looked surprised at the sudden speed at which she was pulled up.

He yanked her out of the hole and held her arm while keeping her real close to him. He could feel her shaking. The wolf was happy that she was unharmed and had finally shut up. Derek backed away from the hole carefully. Chloe looked up at him, clearly getting ready to thank him, but he knew this was no time for any thanking yet.

The sudden added weight to him caused the floor under his feet to groan in protest and Derek didn't even wait to see if it would fall because he knew it would, and he threw Chloe in front of him and told her to run. She did and he followed quickly.

The floor did break and Derek sped up, Chloe going to slow. He ran up alongside her and grabbed onto the top of her arm, lifting her up off of the floor slightly and running the last few inches through the door and onto stable ground.

He pulled Chloe against the wall and hovered over her protectively, looking back through the door to assess the damage. Most of the old floor had caved in and Derek was sure that Andrew wouldn't be too happy about that…

A sharp yet sweet smell pulled his attention back to Chloe. "You're hurt." He said bending down swiftly pulling her hand up to his face, his nose twitching as it filled with the coppery smell of her blood.

"It's nothing, I just skinned my palm when I tried to grab onto the ledge." Chloe explained quickly. Derek flipped her palm over and looked at it. He winced. There were splinters in it and there was blood running out of a cut that went right across her palm. He concentrated on that cut because he couldn't do much for the splinters right now.

It didn't look to deep but it did look painful. Disinfectant would be needed. He dropped her hand and examined her anywhere else he thought that she could have gotten hurt. He was looking at her head carefully when her cool hand reached up and latched gently onto his wrist. He jumped in surprise.

"I'm fine, Derek. The only thing that got hurt was my hand." She explained carefully. He lowered his hands so that they rested against the wall on either side of her head. Her hand was still on his wrist. She looked up at him, into his eyes, and the same goddamn thing happened again.

The wolf wanted her again. This time, his justification was that she was his and she had almost gotten hurt and he wanted to assure her she was safe… and the wolf was flashing some very vivid fantasies of how to do just that through Derek's mind.

Derek broke the contact first this time, closing his eyes tightly and shaking his head, moving back away from her quickly and bringing one of his hands up to hide his face from her because he was sure he was blushing.

She must have taken his retreat as a sign of pain because she rushed forward and began to ask him if he was okay. Derek began to panic, knowing she was going to touch him and that was bad at the moment. His adrenaline was going and the wolf half of him was close to the surface. For all he knew, one touch could make him snap and push her against the wall…

"Don't touch me." He ground out through tightly clenched teeth. He could practically _hear_ her freeze. "Please." He said, begging her silently to go find Andrew to get her hand cleaned. She didn't move. Her scent was still filling his nose and egging on the wolf. Then her scent spiked with the pointed smack of anger.

Derek moved his hand away from his face and looked down at her. She was still frozen in place with one hand outstretched, a scowl in place on her face. He knew that she was going to start to say something to him and that would also be bad.

Almost as if by an act of God, he jerked his head to the side as he heard the sounds of running footsteps and the scents of Simon and Andrew reached his nose. Chloe noticed he was looking and dropped her hand, scowl turning into a confused look as she tilted herself sideways to see who was coming.

They ran over and Andrew demanded to know what had happened. Chloe explained and Derek told them that Chloe was in need of some first aid. Simon had grabbed her hand to look at the palm. He had pretty much the same reaction that Derek had except he pulled her down towards the kitchen where the first aid kit was. Andrew cast one look over at Derek.

"You okay?" he asked, averting his gaze when Derek met it.

"Fine."

Andrew nodded and walked away, leaving Derek alone. Derek took a deep breath and blew it out through his mouth. He wished and not for the first time that the wolf would go away. He remembered Lust and what she had said.

_You are the wolf Derek._

He already knew that, but that didn't mean he couldn't deny it. Did that make him a fool?

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**Was it good? Oh, and just to let you know; Any of the poems that I use at the begining of the chapters ARE NOT MINE EITHER!! I find them on the internet and take pieces out.**

**Review please!**


	5. Into the Rain, Out with a Headache

**-sigh- I really am a silly person. I tried to hold off on the chapter till Saturday, but I have a very weak resolve. Oh well, new chapter anyway!!** **I want to thank anyone that's reviewed, it really helps! (and I love getting them, I get little butterflies in my stomach and I roll around on the floor happily) Anyway; Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Kayka-chan: See this man? His name is Travis. **

** Travis: -waves-**

** Kayka-chan: Travis is a lawyer. Do your thing Travis the lawyer!**

** Travis the lawyer: She don't own it bitches!**

** Kayka-chan: Thank you Travis the lawyer.**

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_Foolish_

Chapter Five

----XX----

_Where there is a need  
there is always greed  
a rotten exploiting deed  
that manifests with speed_

----XX----

Derek sighed heavily for what seemed like the thousandth time that day as he rested his warm forehead against the contrastingly chilly glass of the rain flecked window. He closed his eyes and rocked his head back and forth, trying to find comfort and control in the calming coolness. He realized that he hadn't felt this flustered since he threw that kid against the wall.

This was a different sort of agitation, however. When he did that he was horrified with himself and he had felt guilty and plagued. Well, this time, he was still guilty and somewhat plagued, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying his torture.

The wolf was still slightly vengeful and since he was part of Derek, he knew exactly how to irritate or, at least, get some revenge. He was still shooting images of some rather perverted things through Derek's mind at rapid fire, not letting Derek get any form of peace, whatsoever. He had made it perfectly clear that the imagery wouldn't stop until they became reality.

Anytime Derek was sure they had stopped, another one would come waltzing into his imagination and he would be right back where he started. He had already tried a cold shower. Actually, it was a _freezing_ shower. All that did was make him cold.

It didn't help that he could hear Chloe talking to Simon. Apparently, just the sound of her voice was enough to have the wolf going crazy. He had tried stuffing copious amounts of cotton in his ears. That was all fine and dandy, but then he could _smell_ her. How did he solve that?

Why, he found a can of Febreze and sprayed it all over anything that was near him and even remotely smelt of her. The only thing that helped was inform him that he was, apparently, allergic to it. He could still smell her over the flowery scent of the Febreze and now he had watery eyes and sneezed every five minutes.

Part of him wished that he was still five, back when it was socially acceptable for him to throw a temper tantrum. To stomp his feet and wail, fall to the floor dramatically and proclaim how unfair the grownups were being. The thought seemed to be the only way to get the pent up frustration out of his system. He wasn't five though. He was sixteen years old, right in the middle of puberty.

It didn't help that he was a _teenage boy_, either. Sure, he was a genetically modified werewolf freak of an adolescent boy, but that had nothing to do with the way his mind worked. He may not always look the part, but, holy _crap_, was he feeling it now.

Derek had been avoiding her since she nearly fell through the floor. For the broad side of four hours, twenty-five minutes, and seven seconds to be precise. And every single freaking moment was fixated on the unintelligent and completely revolting yet somehow wonderful fantasies of a teenage mutant werewolf. He didn't even notice when it started to rain.

He groaned in exasperation as another image flashed quickly through his mind. He lightly thumped his head against the glass then leaned back and dropped onto the floor, scooting himself into a corner. Like that would help. He propped his arms on his legs and dropped his head into his hands.

He pleaded for the umpteenth time for the wolf to stop, but, to his embarrassment, the beseech was half hearted. Of course, there was really not much he could do. He had begged and pleaded and groveled and even hollered Uncle. Then he tried getting angry. Nothing.

There was the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps accompanied by laughter, both male and female. Derek's head shot up and grabbed onto the leg of his bed to stop himself from lurching towards the sound of Chloe's voice, while hoping that they were just running past.

They were.

Derek let out a sigh of relief and loosened his death hold on the bed. The wolf huffed and shot another bout of imagery through his mind. Derek grunted and clamped his eyes shut. That was _it_. With a rumble that was reminiscent of a growl in his human form, he shot to his feet and walked quickly to his door, yanking it open with more force than was probably needed. He stomped quickly down the stairs and out the front door, throwing a quick and hurried answer over his shoulder to Andrew's questions.

Immediately he was beaten by hundreds of tiny, cold, water drops. He reviled in the feeling but loved how it drove back the pictures and gave him something else to focus on. The mud squelched under his feet as he walked around to the other side of the absurdly large house. He found himself a spot where he could lean against the wall and still be in the firing range of the raindrops. It was next to a torrent of water falling from the gutters and Derek figured he would need that.

By now he was thoroughly soaked. The skies seemed to echo his inner turmoil and felt the need to throw one hell of a paroxysm. He chuckled mirthlessly as the atmosphere erupted in a barrage of thunder and lightning. He let his feet slip in the mud and slid onto his rear, his back against the wall and his head raised to catch the rain. He closed his eyes when the water started to slip into them.

He just sat there, while the rain pounded on him. When his thoughts began to wander, he would lean to the right and have the water from the gutters splash down onto his head. The pressure and temperature combined was enough of a distraction. Not that the diversion lasted for too awfully long, but it was enough to at least let the heat get out of his body. How long did he sit there in the rain? He will probably never know. He lost track of the time, almost as if it didn't matter. Then it became important again.

There was the sound of a foot step, the squash of mud, undeniable. His eyes shot open and turned off to the side when he heard the sound of Chloe calling his name. There was a momentary battle of wills; Should he run? Should he stay still and hope she doesn't see him? Should he say where he was but tell her to keep her distance? Should he give the wolf what he wanted…?

In the time this battle was going, Chloe rounded the corner and saw him kneeling in the mud, soaked to the bone. Derek's eyes flashed up to her face and she just looked at him, before rushing toward him. His eyes followed her warily as she got down on her knees before him and waved her hand in front of his face.

"Derek? You okay?" She asked him, her voice causing him to wince as the wolf practically cackled. He shifted around so that he was inching farther from her without her knowing. She looked at him worriedly. He noticed her hair was wet and stringy, pieces dangling in her face and dripping water onto the ground. She shivered every so often and it made him wonder how long she had been out here for.

"Fine. What are you doing?" He asked, having to try twice because his voice cracked the first time. Chloe shifted around on her feet.

"Looking for you. Andrew said that you left quickly and wanted someone to come and look for you. I volunteered since I wanted to have a word with you anyway." She jumped slightly as thunder crashed and she looked over her shoulder. Derek sighed and hoped that he wasn't going to end up butting heads with her…

Oh _god_, bad choice of words…

"What about?" He asked hesitantly. She chewed on her cheek before standing up quickly and looking around. Derek scrunched his eyebrows and tested the air. He didn't smell anything. What was wrong with-?

His thoughts sputtered to a halt as she reached down and grasped one of his large hands in her two small but warm ones. The wolf let out a rumble that sounded suspiciously like a purr and Derek had to bite his tongue to keep his head on straight. He almost laughed at how much of an effect holding hands had on him. _How lame…_

She pulled on his hand that he refused to close around hers and made a motion like she wanted him to stand up. He complied, heaving himself onto his feet. He shot his other arm behind him to steady himself on the wall when he realized his leg was asleep. Chloe asked him if he was okay and he just shook his head, gesturing for her to explain.

"You need to get out of the rain, so then I can yell at you without feeling bad." She explained as she pulled him by his limp hand towards a shed looking thing at the end of the house. He gave a small partial smile.

"You're going to yell at me?" He asked her. She scoffed.

"I wish I could. You look like a drowned kitten at the moment and I can't work up a good anger." Chloe answered him. He had to be amused with her simile and the comparison to a cat. She squeaked as she slipped on a patch of wet gravel and he gripped her hand to keep her on her feet. Her cheeks tinted and she mumbled; "Thanks."

Derek nodded and went to loosen his hand again but found that he didn't want to. He blinked in surprise at the treachery of his hand before listing off a slew of creative swear words at the wolf, who was feigning innocence. Chloe pushed open the door to the shed and looked around, then nodded like she decided this was a perfectly fine place to murder him and no one would hear anything.

She motioned for him to come inside as a bolt of lightning flashed, illuminating the small shed momentarily. He nodded and ducked his head to avoid a collision with the entrance of the shed. He almost didn't fit. She let go of his hand and rushed over to a pile of randomly assorted objects. His hand fell limply to his side.

"Ah-hah!" She happily whispered to herself as she pulled a flashlight out from behind a stack of something that looked faintly like barbed wire. She flicked it on and the yellow circle shone onto the ceiling. She smiled and turned to him. "You can close the door. It'll keep the cold out." Derek didn't know if that was such a good idea but she was cold and it was windy so he shut the door anyway.

"What did you want to yell at me for, now?" He asked, trying to divert himself into the farthest corner from her. She looked confused then her eyes widened like she had forgotten what she was mad about, then remembered. Then Chloe adopted a faint frown on her face.

"Why have you been avoiding me all day?" She asked him, more annoyed sounding than angry. Derek didn't really know how to answer that. He sure as hell wasn't telling the truth. He didn't need to worry. She didn't wait for an answer. "I mean, seriously! Do you feel, what, _guilty_ or something because my hand got a few scratches on it?"

Derek swallowed awkwardly. He did feel bad about the hand, but that wasn't it. How was he supposed to explain to her that he had been having fantasies about her? The answer was; he didn't. He lied his tail off and hoped she believed it. He was busy formulating various excuses in his mind, the wildest featuring an anaconda, when he was interrupted by one necromancer.

"Derek?" Her tone had softened now. He looked at her and nearly jumped at how close she had gotten to him. She was standing three feet from him, looking up at him with those stupid, stupid eyes that had something like fear in them. The flash light was pointed at the ground next to her foot, but he could still see her. And smell her. "You don't seriously think that you're to blame for my hand, do you?"

…That was actually a really good excuse. Derek hesitated, not one who particularly enjoyed lying, much less to her. He didn't even have to say anything. She seemed to take his gauche silence as a consent.

"Derek, this isn't your fault. I should have been more careful. I'm lucky to be alive because you caught me." She was looking at him desperately, and Derek wasn't really sure why. He never got this girl. Most people would say; 'Yeah, this is totally your fault! You should have stopped me, yadda, yadda, yadda.' But with Chloe, she didn't falsely place blame on others. She took it when it was necessary and covered for others when it wasn't. And now he felt bad for taking advantage of that trait.

"That's not it." He said, cutting her off mid-rant. She stopped and looked up at him.

"Then what is it?" She asked. Derek could almost see the cogs in her head working. There was the light bulb… "Y-You're not hurt are you? I knew it, I knew that you hurt yourself! It's not too bad, is it? We could have Andrew look at it and—"

"I'm fine, Chloe."

She looked up at him again and huffed in frustration. "Then what is it? Why are you avoiding me like I'm some kind of highly infectious disease?" She asked him, shining the flash light up into his eyes like at a police interrogation in the old movies. He flinched and held up a hand to shield his eyes from the light.

The wolf was pushing him to it again. Telling Derek that she wanted to know, so tell her. Or, better yet, show the bitch. Derek grit his jaw and shook his head, forcefully telling the wolf to go away and leave him alone. He did, surprisingly enough, but not before reminding Derek that Chloe was still his. Then there was only the sound of their breathing, the rain pounding on the shed, and the thunder.

Derek leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He felt warm. No, he felt… _hot_. Really hot. He cleared his throat. Why was it so hot all of a sudden? He jerked his head back up and looked down at his arm. Chloe had gripped on to it and was trying to get him to lean down. That was a bad idea. He resisted.

"Derek, cooperate with me. I just want to see if you feel warm." She said, the irritation leaking into her voice and her scent. He tried to scoot farther away from her but his wet sneakers slipped on the ground and he made a grunting noise as he fell ungraciously onto his butt. Chloe made a yelp of surprise as he suddenly fell and she was still clinging to his wrist.

She would have stayed standing too, but her legs hit his knees that pretty much appeared out of nowhere to her because she couldn't see what just happened to him , and she came tumbling down into his lap. He grunted when her elbow hit his stomach. The sudden added weight to his top half caused him to fall backwards and he hit the back of his head on a cardboard box that felt like it had a boulder inside it. The flashlight clattered to the floor.

"Derek?" Chloe whispered urgently. He shook his head to clear the stars. He brought one of his hands up to rub the back of his head and then looked at it to see if there was any blood, which there wasn't. The back of his head was tingling now, then it got real cool, almost like someone had poured water on him.

Chloe grabbed onto the front of his sweatshirt and shook it gently. "Derek?" She whispered in a more alarmed tone. He looked in front of him and caught Chloe staring at him. Derek swung his hand down again to try and push himself up. That didn't help the situation at all. It only hit another cardboard box stacked on top of the one he hit his head on and the entire stack came tumbling down. He mumbled a curse and his instinct kicked in, because it apparently didn't matter if it was a speeding car or a flower being thrown, he still needed to protect. He curled up and grabbed onto Chloe, pushing her under him while the boxes rained down.

They bounced off of his back, surrounding him and pushing him down. He began to panic when he thought he was crushing Chloe and tried to push himself up off of her. He couldn't. "What the…?" he said and twisted his top half to turn and look at his legs. They were covered with boxes and other various occupants of the shed. A Weed-whacker, rake, shovel, wheelbarrow, you name it.

Derek gave an experimental kick of his legs and the boxes on top shifted but didn't fly off like he had hoped they would. "Damn…" he mumbled under his breath. Then he turned to look at Chloe. "You okay?" he asked. She was laying under him, his hands under her head to cushion it from the fall and her hair spilling over them. He was surprised how soft it was, even when wet. She had her eyes clamped shut, and opened one hesitantly.

"I'm good. How about you? You had all the stuff fall on you." She said, from her position. Derek ran his tongue over his teeth and turned around again.

"I think I'm stuck." He informed her after another kick.

"Oh." She said and wiggled around under him. The action caused him to freeze and stiffen, his breath catching in his throat, and his eyes widening. He realized the significance of this situation they were suddenly trapped in.

Chloe, the star of the fantasies that had been plaguing him, was trapped under him. She had no idea about why this was so bad, not someone as innocent as her, but Derek did. It was only a matter of time before the wolf came back and this got very, very awkward for the both of them.

And she needed to _stop moving_!

"Chloe, stop fidgeting." He snapped at her with a little more animosity than was originally intended. She stopped her movements quickly, then scowled at him.

"Well, excuse me. I have something poking me in my butt and I would really like to get it off." She hissed at him.

Derek clenched his jaw.

They needed out of here now before he did something that he would regret.

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**Goodness me. That was quite fun to write! **

**Review please!**


	6. Temptation in a Shed

**Man, I am on a roll! I know that I just updated two days ago, but I find this story so much fun that I just want to keep writing. I hope you don't mind. I know for a fact that the next chapter won't come up for a while because I'm going out of town for a week. Keep that in mind dears! Thanks again for the reviews (LOVE THEM!) and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: -Travis the lawyer shuffles cards and looks at Kayka-chan seriously-**

**Travis the lawyer: If you lose, and you know you will because you suck at poker, you have to tell the truth and say you don't own Darkest Powers.**

**Kayka-chan: -horrified expression- I thought we were playing speed!**

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_Foolish_

Chapter Six

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_Oh God, I'm burning  
Every muscle straining  
Tell me why  
Why am I resisting?_

----XX----

_Hum. I could hum! No, that would scare her… _

Derek tossed his latest idea for detaching himself from the world out of a hypothetical window as his situation proved more precarious than it was three seconds ago. Chloe was being a good sport about this whole situation, in his opinion, but Derek's self control could only stretch so far.

It had been stretched to its limits for the past half of an hour, though it had gotten easier to endure after she removed the thing bothering her in the rear. That wasn't the only thing that was in pain. He had been supporting his weight on his forearms so that he didn't crush the tiny girl beneath him and his limbs were shivering with the strain. If Derek had to guess what hell was like; this would be as close as his imagination would want to get.

The wolf had been a surprisingly good sport about this. He had only popped up a few times and offered him some words of encouragement, which, by the way, really creeped Derek out. The only reason that Derek could think why the wolf wasn't trying to get Derek to attack Chloe was that, since he thought of her as his mate, her safety and comfort came first. This explained why Derek's hands were still supporting her head even though they lost feeling about twenty minutes before.

The current of air outside howled angrily and beat itself against the shed, the sounds of the raindrops stuck in its tempest smacking the shack like little pellets. The small building groaned in protest and seemed to lean into the wind. The wind whistled annoyingly through a hole in a corner and Chloe shivered and tried to curl herself into a tighter position. Derek looked down at her worriedly. He did not want her getting sick.

"You okay?" He asked quietly. Chloe offered him an unconvincing smile and nodded while she shivered.

"I'm fine. It's just chilly." She wriggled around under him and Derek clenched his jaw, contemplating the meaning of life in yet another failed attempt to become oblivious to his surroundings. He looked at the wall and took to counting how many lines were in the wood. He got in a sort of trancelike state before he was zapped from it by one irate wolf.

He was quite mad that Derek wasn't making an attempt to keep her warm. Derek ignored him and mourned the loss of his Zen mode. The wolf gave one sharp, quick, angry bark and Derek was forced to listen to him. The truth was that Derek was sure that he could probably keep her warm but he really didn't want to hug her in anyway shape or form because he didn't know what would happen. She might not even want him to. The wolf just responded with a dry sort of silence that spoke in volumes, then just left.

Derek felt a twinge of annoyance rise up at the wolf's behavior. It's not like he left him anyway out of this stupid predicament. In fact, the wolf was the reason they were even in this situation! Beneath him, he could hear Chloe making a few snuffing noises. He looked down curiously and she sneezed in his face, all wet and nasty. He jerked his head back quickly and closed his eyes.

"I-I'm sorry!" Chloe stuttered below him, her hand brushing along his stomach as she brought it up to, no doubt, wipe her nose off with her sleeve. He cracked open one eye and saw her doing just that. She looked mortified. She shivered again and Derek felt his resolve crumbling like an old brick wall under pressure. He sighed and let himself slowly lay down on her, so that he didn't just drop all two hundred pounds of himself on her. She stopped shaking and seemed more surprised than anything else.

"Am I too heavy?" He asked her, careful of her response. He felt her head shaking back and forth. Another gust of wind blew in and he made sure that he shielded her from it. The wolf still stubbornly refused to talk to him but he could tell that he was pleased with the way Derek was handling the situation. "If you want me to get off just say so." He made sure to tell Chloe so that she didn't feel uncomfortable in anyway. "It's not like I'll be insulted."

"N-no!" She said quickly. "I mean… its okay. You're really warm." He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and raised an eyebrow. Derek didn't feel warm. He thought he was cold. Chloe just cleared her throat in his ear and then fell silent. He was fine with this. If she was quiet, it would be a lot easier to pretend he was in a field of… something happy. He was in the middle of skipping through a happy field of happy things when something infiltrated his sensitive nose that made him perk up.

Derek was fairly proud of his nose, the fact that it made things easier than it did for normal people attributed to that. After his senses became a little more advanced and wolf-like the older he got, he realized that his nose was so attentive that he could actually tell what someone was feeling by the changes in their scent. Whether they were a boy, or a girl, if they were happy, sad, mad, frustrated, when the females were most fertile, etcetera. It had become somewhat overwhelming but he had learned to tune it, mostly, out.

But what surprised him most about this smell coming off Chloe said that she was happy. If you added that up with the body language; her eyes closed, the relaxed state of her muscles and the slow, languid pattern of her heart and breath, you would almost think that she was almost… _comfortable_. The shock was definitely a large one. People didn't relax around him. They were always on their guard and nervous around him. Simon was the only exception so far and that was because they had to sleep in the same room so he had gotten used to it.

Derek gently shook her. "Hey." He whispered. She made a humming noise and opened her eyes, looking over at him. "Don't fall asleep." She blinked and shook her head lightly, looking around.

"I wasn't." she said sleepily. He rolled his eyes at the unconvincing statement and lifted his head to smell the breeze whooshing in through the hole. Simon and Andrew should have been looking for them but the only scents he could get that smelt like them were old. The storm must be much worse than he originally thought to keep Simon in the house when Chloe and him were outside. There was a tug on his shirt and he looked back down at Chloe. "I asked you why you were avoiding me." She repeated, still somewhat groggy, after he gave her a questioning look.

Oh. Well.

Crap.

They were back to the interrogation that got them here. "No reason." He said, trying to divert her and hoping that she was too tired to actually give too much thought to it. He silently pleaded but she wrinkled her nose up and looked back up at him.

"Derek…" Chloe started in a warning tone. Derek knew he was in some deep shit, but there wasn't much that he could do about that. He couldn't walk away and the whole; 'Hey, look over there!' thing wasn't going to work either. Chloe was smarter than that. Sadly.

He looked down at her and she at him. He stared right into her eyes and looked for some way out. There had to be a way out. She was still looking at his eyes and her expression got somewhat…lax. Her mouth had opened partway and she had taken on a rosy tint to her cheeks. Her scent had altered, too, her heart and breathing rate faster than it had been.

While Derek had no idea what this all meant, the wolf did and he perked up, taking a keen interest in little Chloe. Derek was about to push the wolf back down when said wolf turned his attention back onto Chloe. On their own accord, his fingers gently brushed a strand of her, now dry, hair between the pointer and the thumb. He realized how close together they were. He wondered why he was stopping himself. No one was here and she _was_ cold…

She broke the contact, looking away and swallowing loudly, taking a few deep breaths through her nose and out her mouth. Derek himself leaned back from her and turned behind him to look at the rubbish restraining him in his current position. He gave another kick, this one rather fierce. The Weed-whacker slid sideways off the pile and clattered to the floor. Chloe jumped in surprise and tried to see what had fallen.

"Can you get out?" She asked, avoiding eye contact.

"Dunno." He answered, moving his leg around carefully. It felt loose…

"What just fell?" She asked again, moving around under him to try and get a look. He grit his teeth and moved one of his hands out from under her head, careful to still support her with the one still there, and placed it on her arm.

"Stop moving." Derek hissed, somewhat desperate. He knew she was going to say something in retort. He turned around and, sure enough, her mouth was open and she was getting ready to snap something at him, her normally calm and friendly demeanor smashed to bits by an hour's worth of sitting on a cold, damp floor in a shed. He held up his pointer finger and gave her a look that had her closing her mouth. "No bickering, remember?" he reminded her.

The look on her face said she was dying to give him the finger but her hand was trapped under him at the moment so she couldn't. He turned back around and moved his feet some more. The room that was there was the same that it had been the past sixteen times he had check, but, maybe, and this was just a wild hope, the Weed-whacker falling off was all that needed to go away for the pile to be enough for him to kick off.

He gave another kick and the pile jumped. "Yes." He whispered as he kicked again, a few boxes on the top sliding off with almost identical crashes. Derek clenched his jaw and pointlessly twisted around the other way before he kicked again. This time, most of the boxes all flew off of his legs. Some didn't move but those were fine enough that he could probably worm his way out. He turned to look at Chloe. "Okay, I'm going to lift myself up and you need to find a way to get out and off to the side." He told her. She nodded and bit her lip.

Derek inhaled as he pushed himself up so that his whole weight was once again supported on his forearms and his toes. There was a familiar burning sensation in his lower abdomen muscles and in his biceps. Chloe moved fast, wiggling herself around and sliding across the cement. She pulled herself out from under him and pushed her back against the wall. When she realized that there wasn't enough room to stand up, lest she kick Derek in the face, she pulled her legs up to her chest as tightly as she could.

Derek let himself drop down again and looked up, judging the distance that he had. It would be close, and he would definitely have to invade her personal space to get up, but he could do it. He wriggled his legs around, trying to get some of the boxes loose before he pulled himself out. His face got awfully close to her knees and he mentally apologized, but he was out before they knew it.

He crouched there and looked back at the boxes. Now that he wasn't under them anymore they would be easy as pie to move out of the way. He stood up and Chloe followed suit, subconsciously standing a little closer to him than she normally would because he was her source of heat, however little heat he still had left.

"Well, we're free." Chloe told him, looking up at him and offering him a smile. Derek looked down at her and returned her smile hesitantly. He bent down and began to move the boxes out of the way, still somewhat surprised at how heavy they were. Chloe tried to help him, but all she could move was the wheelbarrow, shovel, and Weed-whacker.

He brushed his hands off and then walked towards the shed door. He went to open it, the hesitated as the wind outside whistled in. He leaned forward and pressed his ear against the door. Derek could hear the rain and the wind battling outside. Thunder crashed. He pulled open the door a crack and looked out only to find he couldn't see three feet in front of him. He closed the door and turned to Chloe.

"It's pretty bad out there." He informed her. She looked off to the side and rubbed her hands over her arms, hugging herself.

"How bad?" She asked attentively. The wind blew through the puncture above her head, bringing with it some rain drops that it let drop onto her head. She flinched and brought her hand to her head while she turned and looked at the crack.

"Pretty bad." He repeated. She looked over at him.

"Does that mean we're still stuck in here?"

Derek nodded. She sighed and leaned back against the wall, sliding down onto the floor. She brought her knees up and folded her arms over them. Derek hesitated once before walking over and sitting next to her. She looked over at him, her eyes and scent dull with frustration and impatience, but she still smiled at him.

When she shivered Derek moved closer so that his arm was touching her and he tried to shield her from most of the wind and rain coming in through the fissure. He could tell that she was tired. It seemed like not a day went by that he knew her and she wasn't tired.

They sat there in silence, occasionally broken by a sneeze from Chloe and a grunted; "Bless you." From Derek. Her head bobbed around on her neck as she struggled to stay awake. He looked over at her and the wolf grumbled that he should do more for her. Derek knew that he should do more but he felt that he was already pushing his luck and he didn't want to chance it.

Finally, he looked over at her after she sneezed again and shivered, her teeth chattering. "Are you cold?" he asked, buying himself some time.

"Yeah." She answered him absentmindedly, sounding congested. She sniffed and shook violently. Derek shuffled as close as he dared before putting his arm around Chloe and silently praying that his deodorant still was good. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Chloe looking up at him. He didn't want to look at her at the moment. She stopped shaking so he assumed that he had made a right move. "Thanks." She mumbled.

He just grunted. More time went by and Chloe slowly leaned in towards him before her head finally came to rest on him and she fell asleep. Derek looked down at her and smiled imprecisely to himself. He carefully brought his hand up to brush a stray piece of hair away from her nose. She moved around lightly and then stopped, her mouth relaxing and falling open slightly.

Suddenly, their situation didn't seem so bad.

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**Was it satisfying?**

**Review please!**


	7. Evanescent Loss of Sanity

**Here it is; the moment you've all been waiting for!!! The new chapter!! -woooooooo!!-**

**I'm back! I had a real good time on my vacation and I got to see some family that I hadn't seen in a good three years. One of them even has a kid (who is the most adorable thing ever, by the way)!**

**Anyway, thanks for the reviews and sorry for the wait!**

**Disclaimer: Travis the lawyer: Why do you insist I keep doing this?**

**Kayka-chan: Because it saves me the pain of having to come up with funny and witty disclaimers when you can just tell them that I don't own it. Besides, people like you.**

**Travis the lawyer: Right...**

**Kayka-chan: Well; get on with it! **

**Travis the lawyer: -sigh- She doesn't own Darkest Powers... yadda yadda...**

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Foolish

Chapter Seven

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_Oh the pain...the longing__  
__to be touched by you...Kissed by you_

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Derek tilted his head to the side and listened intently. The sound of rain and wind was lesser than it was before. He wanted to get up and check outside, but that would mean waking the sleeper on him. He looked down at Chloe. She was pretty much in the same exact position that she had been when she fell asleep; the only difference was the wet spot of drool on his shirt where her mouth rested.

The air around him smelt damp and musty, it mingled with his own scent and Chloe's. He kept testing it every so often to see if Simon and/or Andrew were looking for them. So far, no one was. It wasn't like he was angry that they weren't trying but he was a bit concerned why no one was looking, that it proved the storm wasn't through with its tantrum.

He froze as Chloe closed her mouth and shifted around, mumbling nonsense quietly. She tucked herself closer to him and went back to sleep. Derek half smiled to himself as he looked forward. She really was too trusting of a person. Naïve even. He feared that one day it would be her end, but until then, he was happy she was like that. You do get awfully tired of people subconsciously avoiding you with every fiber of their being after sixteen years.

He cast a sidelong glance at Chloe again. She was a bit refreshing, not trying to avoid him. She did when they first met but she ignored her instincts and got close to him anyway, to what she may consider to be friends. He chuckled mirthlessly.

If only she knew what the wolf thought of her. Then she would avoid him with more than just every fiber of her being. He didn't plan on it, really. He actually prayed to god that she never found out. The wolf grumbled at this thought, ruining the quiet he had kept for a good half of an hour. Derek scowled, mentally telling the wolf to get lost. The wolf sniffed haughtily and gave a quick suggestion that she looked cold before curling himself up and going to sleep.

Derek sighed in relief and noticed that Chloe did indeed look somewhat chilled. He pulled her closer and hoped that he stayed warm. He wasn't exactly a radiator and his body heat could only last so long before he too was cold.

His eyelids drooped teasingly, tempting him with the sleep that he needed. Derek shook his head fiercely and sat up straighter. Exhaustion slipped its way back into his body, saturating every bone and muscle in his body and making him feel like he weighed a ton and a half. He felt himself sagging down again as he fought to keep himself awake, desperately telling himself he needed to stay alert. Despite his fight, he grew limp and his eyes closed as his head came to rest on top of Chloe's and he rested.

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Derek was snapped awake from his dreamless sleep by a loud thud. His eyes shot open and he looked around sleepily, confused. The thud sounded again and the wolf let out a warning growl that woke Derek up faster than anything else ever could have. He shot up onto his feet, facing the entrance of the shed, and Chloe yelped in surprise as she slipped over and fell onto her side on the cold floor. She looked around hazily.

"Wazzup?" she mumbled groggily and sat up, looking up at him. Derek glanced back at her and motioned for silence. She fell quiet. He listened intently, sampling the air. The wolf was posed at the ready, the aggression sending every hair on his body standing straight up. He gingerly scented the air. He didn't recognize the scent. The wolf rumbled out a growl that resonated right on through to Derek who let it escape his clenched teeth.

He heard Chloe gasp quietly and the sound of her shoes scraping the sound of the floor as she stood up. Derek looked behind him and saw that she was inching up closer to him. She stood next to him and looked at the door too.

"Who's there?" Chloe whispered to him. When he made no move to answer she said quickly in a rising volume; "Is it the Edison Group? Have they found us?" She began to look around for an escape but Derek reached over and grabbed onto her.

"Stay here." He grunted to her. She looked indignant but nodded and stood still as Derek inched himself forwards, testing the air every time he moved, tensed for the unexpected. He took another whiff of the air and noticed that he had been wrong; he did recognize the scent. He stood straight up again and walked forward, flinging open the doors and looking around. "Simon?" Derek called hesitantly.

There was the sound of a grunt and someone slipping on the mud, then Simon came around the opposite side of the shed. He grinned at Derek and slapped him on the back.

"Hey, bro! Where've you been?" Simon looked behind Derek. "Is Chloe with you? We can't find her either." Derek looked down at Simon, slightly confused.

"She's in the shed." He said, turning half way so that Simon could get past him and to Chloe. Simon grinned and rushed in, meeting Chloe where she was, not where he told her to stay but behind him. He had to admit that he was a bit irritated at that but he couldn't work up the anger. He was too busy trying to figure out why he didn't recognize Simon's scent at first.

"How long have you been out here?" Simon asked. Derek ignored the question and let Chloe answer it as he squished his way through the mud around to where Simon was standing. Nothing looked out of the ordinary and it didn't smell weird either.

_Why couldn't I recognize him?_

Derek looked up at the sky. There were still clouds here and there from which rain drizzled down. The sun was low in the sky as it set and the moon could be seen if you looked hard enough. There was nothing that would have masked the scent and confused Derek's nose like that.

"Derek!"

He turned and saw Chloe waving her hand for him to come while Simon stood next to her with his hands cupped around his mouth. Derek cast one last look back at the place where Simon was standing then walked toward them. When he was parallel with them they all began to walk towards the house. Simon and Chloe were chatting while Derek looked around at the forest. Did he see someone, or was it his imagination? He sampled the air and could smell nothing out of the ordinary.

Derek yanked open the heavy doors and as soon as they were inside Andrew came running down the stairs. Simon called that he them and that they were in the shed. Derek looked over at Andrew who was advancing on him, the scent of anger wafting off of him with every step he took. The wolf growled softly in warning before Andrew's hand made contact with Derek's cheek so hard that his head whipped to the side.

There was the answering surge of adrenaline and anger at the blow but Derek held himself back and didn't move from his position. The room had gone deathly silent and he could hear Andrew's heavy breathing, his anger suffocating Derek's nose.

"How stupid and selfish can you be?" He yelled at Derek who slowly turned his head to look down at the man. "Huh? We're supposed to be hiding! We're supposed to be on the run from some very dangerous people! You do not run outside without saying why or where you are going! You do not just leave and not come back for hours! You do not drag Chloe into this! Do you understand me?"

Derek didn't do anything; he just looked at his feet, ashamed. He could see Simon starting to bristle indignantly out of the corner of his eye and made a small signal with his hand that said for him to stay out of it. Andrew was right. He should have thought about what they were in the middle of before he had just run off like that. And, what's worse, he drug Chloe into it. Andrew was completely right. So he stood there and let Andrew yell at him.

When it was done the silence rang around the room. Andrew sighed disgustedly and paced in front of Derek. Then he stopped and looked up at him brutally. "You're not to go anywhere until I say you can. Do I make myself clear?" He asked, quieter now, more in control but still livid. Derek didn't nod his head. He stiffened. Not going outside? How was he going to do that?

"So what are you grounding him?" Simon asked irritably from the side. Andrew directed his rage at Simon now.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. He's not to leave this house until I give the okay or if there's an emergency." He snapped back at Simon. Derek was still in a sort of shock and just stood there, looking down at his feet in surprise. He couldn't _not_ go outside; it was hardwired into his genetically adapted DNA to be outside. He _needed_ it. He needed it like a fish needed water or a mammal needed air.

All was quiet then Andrew seemed to sag a bit as he turned and walked toward the kitchen. "Go." He said quietly before he disappeared around the corner. Derek felt his feet start to move and didn't stop them as they walked up the stairs and took him to his room. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of his window, looking out at the forest. The wolf was fuming at the treatment he had to endure and was pacing, twitching.

Derek backed up carefully and sat on his bed, the springs creaking with his weight. He leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees, leaning down. His hair slid down and around his face. His cheek throbbed dully. He knew that Andrew was right and that he should be more careful, especially since the situation they were in warranted it, but it still wasn't very fun to get yelled at.

He never really had been yelled at before. When he was little, he was always careful to be the good son so that Dad didn't send him back to the lab because he didn't want to deal with him anymore. Once he got older, he knew that Dad would never do that, but he still really didn't want to cause trouble for him so he stayed out of it. Dad only yelled at him once and it was when Derek had run off to play in the park after dark and Dad and Simon were looking everywhere for him.

No one had ever once struck him like that either. Not in punishment. No one at the lab would dare to have raised a hand against him because they were all mostly afraid of him, and Dad was too nice of a person. Getting in fights was different. Liam had hit him plenty of times. Andrew must have been really worried if he had hit him.

And it was totally justified, too. Derek reasoned that he deserved every word that had been hollered at him.

So why did it bother him so much?

Perhaps because he was always used to Andrew being the "cool one", the one who was like the cool uncle and would always let you do whatever you wanted with no complaints. The sudden change of demeanor probably upset him more than it should. And that was all.

But there was a part of him that kept insisting it was because he was a wolf now. Wild and not worth Andrew's care and trust any more.

_Dangerous._

He jerked up violently as the disembodied voice from his past worked its way back into his head. He swallowed and closed his eyes, fighting off the bad memories that caused him more pain than the growing bruise on his cheek. He leaned down again and placed his head in his hands. He felt a headache growing. There was a quiet knock on his door and he sat up, turning around to look at the door. He figured it was probably just Simon coming to check on him.

He really didn't feel like talking to Simon at the moment so he just ignored it. Derek stood up and walked towards the window, looking out it through all the water drops that still clung stubbornly to the window. The sun had really set now, and the moon was working its way up the sky. He watched it as the wolf howled at it in his mind. He realized that it looked somewhat lonely.

The door creaked open behind him and he turned. Chloe stood in the door way, half in and half out, hand on the door knob, looking at him.

"S-sorry. I just wanted to see if you were…" She said quietly, her words drifting off and she just stopped and looked at him. He knew she couldn't see much of him aside from what the moon illuminated. He imagined he probably looked somewhat intimidating. He made no move to invite her in, as that was not a good plan to have her alone in his room while he was so unpredictable, but he didn't tell her to leave him alone either.

She came in the rest of the way anyway and Derek shifted uncomfortably. The door clicked shut and the wolf abruptly stopped his howling and turned his attention onto their guest, his ears perked forward curiously. Her scent was suddenly all over his room, in his nose and around his body. The wolf drank it in hungrily as Derek actually considered holding his breath.

"How…How's your cheek?" Chloe whispered, walking around the bed and coming closer to him. He backed away from her and out of the moon's light as she stepped into it. He saw her hurt at his movement and then her irritation at his ignorance. She was beautiful in the moonlight. He was reminded of his dream and he felt his blood stir at the memory.

"Fine." He grunted, desperately telling her to leave. The wolf crouched forward like he was preparing to pounce and Derek mentally cursed him and told him to knock it off. Chloe reached her hand forward, groping blindly for him. He pressed himself into the corner. The wolf was excited.

"Derek let me see you." She demanded, not so quiet anymore as she inched forward carefully.

"No."

She stopped at his quick reply and then she huffed angrily and walked forward quickly towards the sound of his voice. He dodged out of the way of her hand.

"Derek! Hold still and let me see it." She hissed crossly as she followed him.

_Don't let her touch you! Do not let her touch you!_ He thought to himself wildly, not sure what would happen if she did.

Then she had a hold of his wrist. Strong yet brittle her fingers barely made it half way around his wrist and he easily broke her hold and grabbed onto her wrist, pushing her against the wall as carefully as he could while still trying to get his point across.

She winced and then looked up at him angrily. The wolf purred at the vulnerable state Derek had her in and silently tempted him to do something to her. Derek shook his head and looked down at her.

"Don't." He said to her, firm but begging. They stared at each other. Her defiance getting the wolf more and more riled up. Then her brow slowly loosened and she just looked up at him, the same thing happening as in the shed. She was giving off that scent again, the intoxicating one that made him question why he wasn't doing what the wolf wanted him to do. Make him filled with some kind of longing and wonder. The wolf was hissing at him to do it and Chloe's scent was filling his nose.

"Derek…" Chloe whispered to him, begging for something she probably didn't even know. That was it. All that it took to break the precarious hold he had on his self restraint before the wolf howled with delight and Derek bent down swiftly, pressing his lips on hers firmly.

She didn't move at first, confused no doubt, but then she moved her lips with his, struggling anxiously against his grip on her wrist while her other hand reached up and grasped onto the collar of his shirt and pull him closer to her.

Derek was drowning in her smell, her feel. She was so soft and yielding. So unlike anything he had ever dreamed of or wanted. She was wonderful yet dangerous at the same time. Her body radiated with heat that called to him. He wanted her and that wasn't safe. He knew he had to stop but all he could do was slant his mouth in a different direction to gain better access to her lips.

His hand around her wrist tightened and he heard her gasp at the pain, but he took this as a chance to get his tongue in her mouth and he did. She didn't seem to know what to do but she didn't push him away. In fact, she loved it, according to the growing scent of arousal coming off of her in waves and pushing him on. He moved his lips from hers and onto her neck, licking her there.

When she let out a quiet moan his eyes shot open and he dropped her wrist, backing away from her so fast that when the backs of his knees hit the bed he fell on it. He moved quickly despite the slight mishap and rolled over till he was crouched on the other side of the bed, looking at her.

She was still propped against the wall, looking at him through hooded and hazy eyes; her cheeks tainted a delicious red color while her breath puffed out quickly from between her moist and swollen lips. They looked at each other, both of their gazes half hungry, and half frightened.

She straightened and looked at him curiously, still somewhat winded.

"Derek?" she whispered again and he clenched his eyes shut at the rush of blood that accompanied her quiet plea. He opened his eyes again and saw that she was edging her way back towards him, her eyes hungry for more of what had just transpired between them. So was the wolf. That was the problem. He didn't want to taint her. He wouldn't let it happen.

"You need to leave." He growled at her. She stood there for a bit and he almost thought that she wouldn't listen to him.

Then she ran out his door, her hair flying out behind her as she opened and shut the door quickly, leaving him sitting there in the darkness, alone with himself and his thoughts.

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**Was it totally worth the wait? **

**This chapter was dedicated to HanaJimaa who wished for more action. IT HAS BEEN DONE, MY FRIEND!!**

**Review please!**


	8. The Art of Avoidance

**Hi!! I'm back!**

**The new character gets intoduced in this chapter so I hope you like her!**

**Disclaimer: Travis the lawyer: -sulking-**

**Kayka-chan: Oh, come on! It's not that bad...**

**Travis the lawyer: Not that bad? You insutled lawyers in this chapter and you expect me not to care?**

**Kayka-chan: Well... yes?**

**Travis the lawyer: -scoffs- Well, then I'm glad you don't own Darkest Powers or you would taint it with you horrible... horrible stuff!**

**Kayka-chan: Does someone need a hug?**

**Travis the lawyer: I don't want your smelly hug!**

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_Foolish_

Chapter Eight

----XX----

_When justice decides to stand still  
will any sanity prevail,  
where justice once stood still,  
can any unity ever be restored_

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Derek stood right behind his door, waiting to open it until he was sure that it was completely safe to do so. He tested the air carefully and listened intently.

_Good._

The only scents that meant anything to him were not recent enough to cause him worry. He cracked open the door and looked both ways, up and down the hallway before pushing the door open the rest of the way and stepping out carefully. A floorboard under his feet creaked and he froze himself. When he was sure that no one was going to come running at him, he carefully continued his slow and dangerous trek to the kitchen. Why, you may be wondering?

Because noon was the worst time of the day.

Noon was when Chloe wandered the house more.

And that's bad.

Derek walked as quietly as he could, stepping cautiously and looking over his shoulder every so often. When he heard the sound of Chloe's laughter wafting up from down stairs, he held his breath and quickly backed into the nearest room, which happened to be an office of some kind. Unused and dusty, there was an old looking lamp with cobwebs all over it and a rickety aged wooden chair. A type writer sat in front of the rickety old wooden chair and there were papers that had faded to a sickly yellow color clustered messily around it.

He leaned his back against the wall and slid to the ground, putting his hand to his forehead and resting it there. He couldn't take much more of this. A person can only avoid someone for so long in a house that he's not allowed to leave.

Derek had been avoiding Chloe for two days straight. He had seen neither hide nor hair of her in the time since he had slipped up and assaulted her. And the art of avoiding someone is not as easy as it sounds. Simon knows something's up, so does Tori, but both Derek and Chloe refuse to talk about it. He knows that Chloe hasn't talked about it because Tori's room is not too far away from his and he can hear everything she complains about. The most recent one was; "That little turd. She's hiding something and I want to know what it is."

Now, whether she hadn't said anything about it to Simon or Tori because she is embarrassed about kissing him is a totally different matter, and one that he had tried not to think too much about. Derek sat up and moved onto his knees, placing his ear on the door. He couldn't hear her anymore so he had to assume that all systems were go. He heaved himself to his feet and placed his hand around the door knob. He went to turn it and walk out into the hallway when there was a sharp tapping noise on the window behind him.

Derek turned quickly and saw a… a _person_. A woman, actually. She was sitting in the window box among the dried up and dead flowers there and was tapping her long nails against the glass, popping her gum loudly. Her curly red hair was rather… volumized and she was wearing the most ridiculous combination of clothing. A wispy pink scarf, a ratty old T-shirt, which he soon realized was one supporting Po from the Telly- Tubbies, gloves with the finger tips cut off of them, a green ballerina skirt, knee high rainbow socks, and a pair of high-tops. After Derek got over the fact that there was a twenty-something year old woman sitting outside in a window box on the second floor dressed like a clown, he had to wonder who she was. If she was an enemy or not. The wolf was wary of her but he hadn't growled any warnings yet.

"Hello-o-o?" The woman called in a slightly muffled voice. She was pressing her face against the glass and cupping her hands around her eyes, squinting directly at Derek. When she saw him she smiled and waved, pointing to the lock keeping the window shut and her out and motioning that he should open it for her.

It was then that Derek began to wonder if he looked just that stupid.

The wolf growled at her now and Derek took a step back. When the woman saw him do this she frowned and ran one of her finger nails down the glass producing a high pitched squealing noise that racked Derek's ears and caused him to slam his hands over his ears. The wolf let out a whine and flattened his ears to his skull. She stopped quickly and smiled smugly, once again pointing at the lock. Derek squinted at her, his ears still ringing. He angrily stalked up to the window and glowered at her.

"If you want in, go and knock on the front door like a normal person." He said, loud enough so that she could hear him but quiet enough so that no one else could. The lady scowled at him and then turned around and leapt off the window box. Derek jerked in surprise and looked down, expecting to see her writhing in pain from the fall, and instead saw her walking briskly towards the front of the house.

Derek couldn't believe it and the wolf was in a similar state of shock. Completely forgetting that he was supposed to be in hiding, he went to the door, yanked it open and walked down the stairs. Chloe, Simon and Tori were all standing outside the kitchen and looked up at him when he stomped his way down the stairs. Simon called a greeting, Tori just watched him, and Chloe looked away, the strong scent of embarrassment coming off of her to meet him. He ignored them all and strode right up to the doors, pulling one of them open and looking down at the woman, her hand posed to knock and a large blue bubble protruding from her mouth.

"When I told you to go to the front door I was being sarcastic." He growled at her. The bubble popped and she craned her neck back to look up at him.

"Jesus, boy. You're _huge_." She informed him, like she thought that he didn't already know. She squinted at him and then added as an afterthought; "and rude." Derek cocked an eyebrow at her and the wolf snickered, because he apparently found this woman to be hilarious. She reached over and pat the arm that was holding the door open. "But don't worry; you can fix that with therapy. Most of the time, anyway." She bent at the waist and looked under his arm, blowing another large bubble from her mouth and popping it. "Are you the little necromancer?" she asked.

Derek turned and saw the other three, clustered in a group and watching the proceedings with a mixture of amusement and uncertainty. When the strange woman pointed out Chloe, she jumped and brushed her fingers along the amulet again, looking around as if she expected someone else to answer for her. She was clearly uncomfortable being the center of everyone attention.

"Lil? You're here already? Good lord, who died?" Andrew said in a playful voice that Derek had never heard him use. The woman, still bent over, looked at Andrew who was walking down stairs and smiled.

"Not sure who she is. Won't tell me her name, but she kept bugging me till I came here." She retorted playfully. As Andrew neared, Derek stepped to the side and let them greet each other. They hugged happily and Andrew thumped her on the back.

"It's good to see you again." He told her. Derek stayed off to the side and into the shadows through the greetings so that he didn't interfere and was mostly out of sight, but he could feel Chloe's eyes drilling holes into his flesh. He avoided looking over at her. Andrew turned quickly motioning for the three of them to come closer. "You guys, this is Lillian Dawson. She's the necromancer I was telling you about. She's here to help out." Lillian Dawson bowed dramatically at the introduction and Derek noticed that she had a black headband with a small bow on it in her tangled mass of hair.

"A pleasure, I'm sure." She said with a gaudy British accent when she straightened out again. She wore a pleasant smile on her face as she blew another bubble. Her entire scent was filled with sweet things, like lollipops and chocolate. It was overwhelming how much sugar she had engrained into her smell. Derek and the wolf both wrinkled up their noses slightly. Then he realized that under all the perfume, he caught a faint smell, no doubt the one she was trying so hard to cover up, that smelt of death. Like at least ten corpses. Derek's breath caught in his throat and the wolf growled.

"…And this is Chloe. She's the one that you're going to be training." Andrew introduced, pulling Derek out of his thoughts. Lillian flashed Chloe a two fingered salute and then trained her eyes onto Simon.

"So you're the lawyer sorcerer's kid? Poor guy. Lawyers are horrible." She said in a dreamy voice, patting Simon on the head. Then she moved her eyes over to Tori. "You too. Your mother's a bitch. No offence intended, of course." Tori just blinked and tried to hide a smile tugging on her lips. When she got to Chloe, she just looked at her, her brown eyes roving up and down Chloe. They came to stop on Chloe's necklace and she let out a soft gasp. "God almighty, child. Where did you get this?" she muttered as she grasped it in her hand, her nails clicking against it softly.

"I-it's a gift from my mother." Chloe answered, trying to lean away from the Lillian. Lillian stopped moving and looked up at Chloe again. She squinted at her.

"Would your last name happen to be Saunders perchance?" She asked quietly. When Chloe nodded, Lillian dropped the pendant quickly and back away. "Ah. That explains so much." Chloe looked at her confused. Actually, everyone was looking at her with confused expressions.

"Lil, what's going on?" Andrew asked coming up behind his friend. Lillian glanced back at him.

"I knew her uncle. Powerful necromancer. Good man. Bad death." She explained, crossing herself with a sad expression on her face. Derek was captivated. He didn't know that Chloe had an uncle; much less that he was dead. Derek glanced cautiously over at Chloe to see that she was staring intently at Lillian and was no longer shooting glances his way. Lillian reached over and pat Chloe on the shoulder awkwardly. "Don't worry, though. Vengeance was mine."

"W-what?" Chloe stuttered out. Lillian looked down at her sadly.

"Now's not exactly the time to talk about it if you don't know about what happened to him." She said pointing out the fact that they weren't alone in the foyer. Derek watched as Chloe lowered her head and chewed worriedly on her bottom lip. Simon reached over and slipped his hand into hers. The wolf snarled at this movement, the odd sensation of possessiveness growing in Derek's gut. To his pleasure, Chloe didn't look so happy to have Simon holding her hand, either, and kept sending glances his way.

"Well," Andrew said loudly, clapping his hands and startling everyone in the room aside from Lillian who was staring at Chloe. "Let's have some lunch! I'm sure you're starving, huh Lillian?" Andrew grabbed onto her wrist and began to lead her away in an awfully transparent attempt at redirecting the conversation. Tori followed and Simon tried to get Chloe to follow but she held up a hand.

"I'll be right there." She told him quietly. He nodded and walked over to the kitchen. Chloe stood there and waited until Simon was out of sight before looking over at the shadow Derek was occupying. "Derek?" she said with care. Derek grit his teeth and unfolded his arms, walking out of the shadow and trying to stride past her and make it to the stairs so that he could go back into hiding. Chloe stepped quickly into his path. "D-Derek we need to t-talk." She said to him, blushing furiously, but looking him straight in the eye with determination.

"There's nothing to say." Derek grunted at her, desperately trying to avoid the awkward conversation. He stepped to the side in an attempt to get around her and she stepped in front of him again. She no longer looked embarrassed. Now she just looked mad.

"Excuse me? 'Nothing to say'? There's plenty to say." She hissed, looking over at the kitchen quickly before looking up at him. Derek clenched his teeth harder and curled his hand into a fist. The wolf giggled mischievously, telling him that he should do it again because his bitch wanted a round two. Derek told the wolf to shut up and once again tried to sidestep Chloe who, once again, intercepted him.

"Chloe, do we really have to do this now?" He asked her gruffly casting a pointed look in the direction of the kitchen where Simon was laughing loudly at something. Chloe looked over also before returning her scowl onto him.

"Yes, because you're apparently back to avoiding me and now's the only time I've seen you in two days." She told him, keeping her voice lower than a yell but above a whisper. Derek flinched slightly and stuffed his hands into his pockets. This was one of the reasons why he kept such a careful hold on his emotions. He didn't want something bad to happen and hurt someone again. Now, he was causing Chloe severe discomfort. He had pretty much sexually assaulted her, and now she was not happy. What's worse, he had probably ruined any form of somewhat decent friendship that they had.

"Look," He said, cutting her off, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to happen and it would be nice if you would just forget about it. Okay?" He looked away. Derek hoped that's what she wanted to hear. He really, _really_ hoped that's what she wanted to hear, because it wasn't the truth. He _didn't_ want her to forget it, for some odd reason. He _wanted_ her to enjoy kissing him. He kept telling himself that it was the wolf's influence, but part of him wasn't so sure anymore.

_You are the wolf, Derek_

He looked back down at her and saw that she had a somewhat stricken look on her face. Chloe slowly looked at his feet, and then flashed her eyes back up at his face. She worked her mouth, trying and failing to say something. She cleared her throat and tried again. He could smell the faint scent of salt and knew that it meant she was going to cry.

"But… " She said, her voice wavering as she desperately looked from side to side and fiddled with the hem of her shirt. Derek winced again and walked around her, going for the stairs quickly. The wolf sat in a disappointed silence. "Derek." Chloe whispered desperately. He didn't look back. He quickly walked up the winding staircase, hesitating once when he got to the top and was out of sight, seriously considering running back down. He didn't. He just stood there, every muscle in his body somewhat lax. Then he clenched his jaw and his fists, walking briskly towards his room.

"She's probably real upset, you know." A female voice said to Derek, causing him to jump slightly in surprise and look over at Tori, leaning against the wall, half hidden in shadow. Derek righted himself and looked down at her distastefully.

"And what do you know about anything?" He snapped at her, looking down through his hair. Tori chuckled softly and pushed herself off the wall.

"I know plenty about a lot of things." She told him. "And, even though I don't know what's going on between you two, I know that she's not happy right now, which is a first in two days." When Derek gave her a confused look, Tori said; "Little Miss Ray of Sunshine down there has been in a creepy good mood ever since she nearly bowled me over running out of your room. I've tried to figure out what it is, but she won't talk."

Derek blinked down at Tori. The wolf was somewhat proud due to the statements that had just issued themselves from Tori's pie-hole, but Derek was seriously befuddled. The questions as to why she was in such a good mood were most prevalent. The way Tori said it made it seem like Chloe was happy that he kissed her…

"What?" Derek said dumbly. Tori sighed in a way that clearly said; 'why me?'

"Look, whatever's going on between you guys, you need to straighten it out. Fast." And with that, Tori turned sharply on her heel and marched away. Derek watched her walk away, slightly aghast.

_Did Tori just give me advice?_

He chuckled slightly in spite of himself before leaning his back against the wall heavily. He knew what Tori said, he had an inkling of what it meant, but that wasn't good. He wasn't the good guy. He wasn't right for her. Chloe could do so much better than him. Simon, for example, would be perfect for her.

They got along great and he was the good guy. He would be the perfect one for Chloe. Not him. Not Derek. All he would bring her was anger and hurt. She just needed to figure this out, sooner rather than later, when it was too late.

But… first he needed to convince himself of that.

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**Yay? I don't know. I'm not really sure if I like the way this chapter turned out... **

**Review please!**


	9. Hypothetically, Practice Makes Perfect

**Greetings! Here's another chapter and I once again thank everyone for commenting.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Kayka-chan: Oh, come on! You can't quit! Your contract doesn't expire until the story's over! I can't get anyone else!**

**Travis the lawyer: Really? Why? How hard is it to say that you don't own Darkest Powers? You can find someone else.**

**Kayka-chan: No one else will put up with me!**

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_Foolish_

Chapter Nine

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_You smile, I frown_

_You laugh, I scowl_

_You walk away, and I watch you go_

----XX----

"…Of course I suppose that if you _really_ wanted to summon a demon, not that I recommend it because it's harder than trying to say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious backwards, then you would need way more than just the usual artifact and you would actually have to draw a circle and have at least twenty talismans, depending on the strength of the demon you're attempting to summon, plus you have to get two small gold bells used specifically for the summoning of that particular demon and, what the heck, let's throw in a few randomly assorted candles. You need to have them placed around the circle and then the demon usually wants some form of blood payment. Sometimes, they're okay with just animal blood, but there are the occasional ones that want you to give some of your blood.

"Anyway, you lay out the talismans and the blood and the candles in a meticulous order then you sit down and get into a medative state while ringing the bells in a finicky cadence. Wanna know the sad part? That's just getting set up for the summoning. During the summoning, it takes a tremendous amount of concentration to keep the demon's aura from flaring out and burning you to a crisp on the spot while still trying to pull him through the 'worm hole', if you want to call it that. Once you've actually pulled him or her through and you're all drained and exhausted then you have to convince the demon that it would be a bad idea to kill you for summoning it out of the hell dimension. Not easy. Not. Easy." Lillian explained distractedly, alternating between chewing on some beef jerky and explaining demon summoning.

Derek was once again very happy that he wasn't a necromancer. Just listening to the lady say all this was hard enough. He imagined that Chloe was probably very confused. He let an undignified snort when he thought of her expression. He lay there on his bed, smiling for a bit before the smile dramatically slid off his face and he sighed, rolling over and looking at the boring wall.

He had long since given up on achieving any sort of sleep because after they had eaten dinner Lillian had drug Chloe upstairs into the largest room that she could find and hadn't stopped talking since. For five straight hours, Lillian had been bombarding Chloe with everything about necromancy that she would ever have to know, and some things that she would _never_ need to know. (i.e. "I always find it somewhat fun to carry on conversations with ghosts in public places because people's expressions are _priceless_.")

He had eventually come to slightly appreciate the fact that all he had to do was go through agonizing pain while transforming into a wolf. Apparently there was just as much crap to performing a summoning as he originally though and more. There were bells and chickens and old black bread and talismans and clothing and circles and candles. It was so elaborate that, for all he knew, she might have needed to do the chicken dance to summon someone.

It wasn't like sorcery or witchcraft where the only especially complicated thing about that was memorizing spells in an ancient language and throwing out a strong enough wave of power to get it to work, and it wasn't like half-demons where their powers were an extension of their bodies so they knew how to use it almost instinctually.

Apparently, necromancers also had an ancient language that consisted of shrill squeaking and a low moaning sort of sound. How anyone could ever understand what was being said when someone was doing that, Derek wasn't even going to try to figure it out. He was snapped out of his reverie by Chloe's voice.

"Wait, I'm not sure I understand what that means." She said with a confused tone to her voice. There was the sound of a soft, melancholy sigh.

"Okay, um…" Lillian was quiet for a moment while she seemed to gather her thoughts. "What that pretty much means is that since necromancers interact with the dead, or raise the dead, it makes it especially difficult for us to produce life. This, in a sense, means that it's extremely rare for any necromancers to reproduce. Women usually miscarry their children because their body just can't support the life, and the men are just unable to produce healthy sperm."

Chloe was quiet and Derek felt somewhat bad for her. Whenever he heard any little girl talking about what she's going to be like when she grows up, she's usually a mother with a successful job and a loving husband. If he had to guess, Chloe probably wasn't any different.

"But…why? I mean, is there any reason why we can't have kids?" Chloe asked, an undertone of something like urgency in her voice. The wolf was listening way too intently to the conversation for Derek not to know why. The sad part was, he was listening just as closely.

"Okay, remember back at the beginning when I explained about raising the dead? Well, the only reason that it works like that is because when you raise someone, you place a teeny-tiny little piece of your soul in with it, otherwise the deceased could just up and leave its body again. So that teeny-tiny little piece of our souls' the most important part because it's like the peanut butter of raising the dead and sort of forces the dead person's soul to stay in the corpse." Lillian explained patiently.

"Yeah." Chloe answered, her tone prompting.

"Well, eventually, if you raise enough dead people, then your soul is weak because it's missing so many little pieces, and it can hardly support your life much less another life. Usually, your body knows this and stomps out the thing threatening your life before it can kill you, whether you like it or not." There was an uncomfortable silence and Derek waited, once again intrigued. When Chloe didn't raise any questions, Lillian continued; "This is partially the reason why necromancers rarely live very long."

"What?" Chloe asked sounding like she had just been snapped from her thoughts.

"We don't usually live for as long as normal people and other Supernaturals do because of the fact that we part with our soul easily. Sometimes necromancers' bodies can't take the strain and give up, and other times… other times the necromancers themselves can't take the strain." Derek frowned. Lillian's tone had suddenly gotten heavy. Sad.

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean."

"Listen, and I'm not saying that you'll do this, but I've known plenty a good necromancer who's killed themselves because they can't take what the ghosts dish out at them. Sometimes they just can't take the way the ghosts chase them around and sometimes they just can't take seeing the imprints of death." Lillian's tone had gotten distant. "It's what happened to your uncle." She said, almost as an afterthought.

"What?" Chloe said abruptly.

"There was a particularly stubborn ghost, one that was angry that he had died. Your uncle had been the one to tell him that he was dead so the ghost sort of linked his death to Ben and had chased him around. I think, towards the end, that Ben really wasn't thinking straight and that's what made him jump. I saw it. We were friends from college and I knew about how the ghost was bothering him and I was doing research on how to make a ghost leave the necromancer alone. By the time I found it out, they were burying him in a cemetery.

"In anger, I hunted down the ghost and preformed an exorcism, I told you about those, and banished him to hell." She was quiet for a bit."I somewhat regret it now. I'm not sorry for what I did but I shouldn't have taken his judgment into my own hands. For all I know, he could have been a father and a good man."

Derek didn't really know what to think. There was really nothing that he could think about after hearing that. He felt remorse for Chloe, sure, but there was no thoughts going through his head until one surfaced rather unexpectedly and violently.

What if Chloe killed herself?

The wolf growled at the thought and Derek shook his head to clear it away. He rolled over onto his other side, facing the window. He attempted to block out Lillian and Chloe, trying for sleep. Then the floorboard outside his door creaked. Derek sat up and looked at it as someone knocked on the door.

"Come in." Derek grunted, testing the air. Andrew twisted the knob and walked in, scratching the top of his head and standing there awkwardly.

"Hey." He said. Derek just looked at him. Andrew coughed awkwardly and shifted around on his feet. His body language was telling Derek that he really didn't want to be here.

"What's up?" Derek asked, trying to move things along. Andrew took in a deep breath then let it out, looking up at Derek.

"Sorry. For hitting you." He said, pointing at Derek's face. Derek blinked once in surprise, bringing a hand up to touch his cheek. There wasn't a mark on it.

"Why? I deserved it."

"No. No you didn't." Andrew said fiercely, then sighed and walked over, sitting down on the foot of Derek's bed. Derek moved his legs out of the way so he had room. "I've been… mean to you and you don't deserve it. I'm sorry." Derek felt suddenly uncomfortable.

"It's not a big deal, I'm used to it." He mumbled, looking everywhere but Andrew.

"That's the thing, though. I shouldn't be like everyone else who treats you like that. I should know better because I know you're not dangerous and that you're a good kid. That's what makes it all the worse." Derek flashed his eyes onto Andrew when he said dangerous. Andrew was looking at Derek somewhat desperately.

"It's fine." Derek said. Andrew smiled and stood up heaving a third sigh, this one sounding rather relieved.

"You're ungrounded by the way." Andrew said before he left. Derek felt his lips tug up in a small smile. He lay back down and looked at the ceiling, feeling better than he had in two days. He heard Andrew popping his head into the room Lillian and Chloe were in and telling them that Chloe should get some rest and that he wanted to talk to Lillian.

Three pairs of feet walked out of the room and on broke off from the rest, walking past his door down to her room. She stopped prematurely and Derek had a sudden sense of foreboding. He looked over at his door as the feet walked slowly up to it and stood there. The wolf laughed at her, standing out there and trying to gather her courage to come in.

Derek hoped that she didn't have enough courage. He was suddenly aware of the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt. Not unnatural, because he usually didn't wear a shirt to bed. Pants and/or boxers that was it, but now he suddenly felt somewhat… naked.

He jumped as his door creaked open and a small beam of yellow light worked its way across his floor, silhouetting the outline of Chloe and hiding her face from view.

"Derek?" She whispered, looking back over her shoulder before turning back to him. He didn't move and hoped she thought he was asleep and went away. "Derek, I know you're awake. We need to talk."

_Damn._

"You want to talk, _now_?" He said, the thin covers rustling when he sat up and looked at her.

"Yeah." She replied, coming in the rest of the way and shutting the door behind her. They were once again plunged into darkness. While Derek could see her just fine, he doubted that she could see him. He groaned inwardly.

"We already talked." He snapped, trying to be rude enough to make her leave. He heard her sigh.

"No, you talked. I just stood there. We need to get things straightened out and stop avoiding each other because that's not going to do anything for either of us." The way she said it made it sound like she had rehearsed it. It sounded somewhat fake.

"Well, that's an easy enough thing to do in the morning." Derek retorted. Chloe stiffened, then took a deep breath and relaxed again.

"_Please_, Derek. I don't want to fight. Could you at least try to co-operate?" she said, sounding exasperated, her voice quivering a little bit. She took a few steps forward and looked at him. Derek noticed that he was still a little taller than her when he was sitting down. She brought her hand up to brush a few strands of her hair behind her ear and Derek saw bruises on her wrist. His hand snaked out quickly and gently grabbed onto it. Chloe yelped in surprise and stumbled when he dragged her forward to get a better look at them.

"Did I do this?" He mumbled, partially to himself and partially to her. She didn't answer him. He gently brushed his thumb over one of the bruises and noticed that it fit perfectly. He did this to her. When he squeezed a bit too hard when he was kissing her. She hadn't said anything. Why?

Derek dropped her wrist and turned away, bringing one of his knees up, propping his arm on it and looking out the window. He had hurt her and she had come back. She really was far too trusting.

"Derek, listen to me." Chloe hissed at him and flicked his arm. He turned to her slowly, gazing at her through his hair. "We need to talk and if you won't —"

"Sorry." Derek interrupted. Her sentence sputtered to a halt and she looked up at him, confused.

"What?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to force you to kiss me. It won't happen again." He mumbled, looking at her feet. The wolf was snarling at him and loudly protesting. Derek ignored him and once again told himself that he had said that he would back down and let Simon have her. He looked up hesitantly and saw that she was wearing an angry look on her face, her fists balled up at her sides.

"You just don't… argh!" She said somewhat loudly. That was his only warning before she began to hit him with her tiny fists. Derek was taken by surprise. She was hitting him on his arms and his chest, punctuating every hit with another angry word. "You—are — so — ugh — I— can't — even — _argh_!"

"Stop it." He said, grabbing onto her wrists again and pinning them down. She glared up at him and clenched her jaw. "What was that for?" he said. Chloe scoffed and looked over to the side, her angry expression starting to leave her face. Derek's eyebrows scrunched together with confusion, he was pretty much unable to move with the surprise at Chloe's mood. The wolf wasn't in any better of a state, but his was because he was laughing so hard. Chloe shook her head and then shot him a quick glance out of the corner of her eye before she quickly turned around and got real close to his face.

"For a supposed genius, you're so stupid." She whispered before leaning in quickly and kissing him. His eyebrows unscrunched and shot up in surprise. He loosened his grip on her wrists and they slipped from between his limp fingers. It was quick and chaste, over before it even began. She stood there blushing furiously red and looking like she had no idea why she did that in the first place. Derek just stared at her with wide eyes.

For the second time that week, she whirled around and ran from the room.

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**Oh no! Was she in character? Oh _god_ I hope she was in character!**

**Review please!**


	10. The First Move

**Well howdy! I'm back again.**

**Disclaimer: Travis the lawyer: -tugs at chain- This is illegal, you know.**

**Kayka-chan: I'm sure I have no idea what you are talking about.**

**Travis the lawyer: You can't chain people to a wall, it's sort of like kidnapping and holding someone against their will.**

**Kayka-chan: The faster you get your job done the sooner you get your free will back.**

**Travis the lawyer: She doesn't own Darkest Powers. HELP ME!!**

* * *

_Foolish_

Chapter Ten

----XX----

_fate...  
is this my fate,  
to be lonely  
like so? _

----XX----

The wolf was running again.

Faster this time, with no playful demeanor in it what so ever. This was a run at breakneck speed that one only chose to use when being pursued by a stronger adversary. The paws thudded loudly against the floor of the forest and his breath wheezed out from between slightly parted jaws, leaving a slight cloud behind as his warm breath contrasted the cool air. The wolf whipped his head from side to side, looking for escape and finding a narrow space between two rocks.

He veered sharply and bunched his muscles, preparing to leap through. He stretched his front legs out to absorb the impact when the sound of a gun rang through the clearing and it hit the wolf in the side, shooting him sideways and sending him rolling down the rocks he had tried to jump over.

He landed heavily on his back and fell onto the side with the gun wound. It was hot and the smell of burnt hair reached the wolf's sensitive nose. He lay there for a few seconds, trying to get his breath back before trying to stand. A sharp pain laced its way through his entire body and forcing an involuntary whimper from his throat as he collapsed in a heap again. Voices were shouting and the undergrowth crashed with the sounds of heavy feet walking. Dogs bayed loudly. The wolf snarled and shakily forced himself to his feet, ignoring the pain as best he could.

He went to lurch forward and stumbled to the ground again. He could smell his own blood in the air and the wind blew it in the direction of the dogs causing them to bay louder in their excitement and thrash through the trees faster. The wolf heaved himself to his feet for the third time and once again turned his attention onto the space in between the rocks. He knew he needed to get into that. Somehow, he needed to get into that. The wolf forwent the option of jumping up to it and instead began to weave around, over, and through the rocks.

He took a wrong step and once again slid down the rocks, bouncing and jarring himself the whole way down. He lay there at the bottom again and considered just giving up. The wolf figured that there was nothing that could be done and death would be quick. His breath heaved itself through his mouth and the wolf shut his eyes as another lace of pain smacked into him. The sounds of dogs howling sounded, close this time. The wolf mused silently that they finally caught up to him as he opened his eyes and saw the approach of different kinds of hounds, all of their goals the same, teeth sharp and saliva dripping from their mouths.

"_Derek!_" A far-off and echoing voice shrieked. The wolf's ear twisted around towards the sound of the tone. He forced his head to look over up the hill next to the rock pile through the darkness and find the source of such a distressed voice. The moon moved from behind a cloud and his eyes caught four people he knew well. Two male, two female. One of the girls was being restrained by the larger of the men and she was looking at him through horrified aqua eyes. "_Derek get up!_" she screamed at him.

The dogs moved closer, barking louder and howling for their masters. The wolf looked at the one in the lead and knew it was only a matter of seconds before he was digging his teeth into him. He looked back over at the people and they seemed to know the same thing because now they were all rushing forward towards him. The wolf growled. He had been doing this so they could escape, those ungrateful meat sacks. He heaved himself to his feet and steadied himself for the impact of the lead dog. His fur bristled and his ears perked themselves forward, his lips pulling back over his long and sharp teeth. He snarled loudly and he felt his tail stiffen. The dog was too dense to back down and rammed right into him.

The wolf twisted, his side throbbing, and latched his teeth onto the scruff on the dog's neck, pulling him off and leaping onto him. The dog howled, a pathetic, wannabe howl that dogs adapted. The wolf growled fiercely and bit harder. The dog whimpered and twisted. It kicked out its leg and the wolf recoiled when the dog's nails scratched his wound.

The dog scrambled to his feet with his tail tucked between his legs and looked over at the wolf again, snarling. He didn't seem too keen on getting close again. The other dogs surrounded him. The wolf snarled a warning to them. He kept telling himself that there were only five and that he could take them. He looked over out of the corner of his eye and saw that his companions had stopped running towards him and had frozen among the trees. The wolf could see the most important one was watching him carefully, frightened and nervous as she was.

Another dog took advantage of his distracted state and leapt at him, growling loudly. The wolf leapt out of the way and then dug his teeth into the mutt's shoulder, biting hard and shaking his head. He could feel the muscle tear as the dog barked and whimpered. Blood gushed into and over his mouth as the dog forcefully tore herself away from him and limped back towards the others. The wolf had to marvel that even though he dwarfed the dogs, seeing as he was on the large size even for wolves, they still had the audacity to attack him.

He growled again and his tail curled itself over his back proudly as he exerted his authority. The dogs all lowered themselves and looked around nervously. The wolf knew they wouldn't challenge him again. He turned and limped up the hill towards the figures, his tail wagging sideways when Chloe smiled down at him, relieved, and Simon let out a breathy chuckle. Then their eyes both flickered to something behind him and they shouted identical warnings which were drowned out by the crack of a rifle. He flinched and turned to see where it was coming from in time for it to smash into the side of his chest.

He let out a howl. An honest to god howl that the dogs could never pull off. One that screamed of pain. It fell short as he collapsed into the grassy hillside and lay there among the trees. The wounds burnt and stung. It hurt to breath and he felt tired. He vaguely heard Simon and Chloe both yelling his name but he couldn't bring himself to stand up and go to them. An echo-y thudding was heard and then four people were gathered over him. Andrew gently moved him around so that he could see the injury better and the wolf whimpered weakly.

Tori and Simon were both pale and shaky while Chloe was practically in hysterics, crying and calling for him. He felt heavy. He closed his eyes and tried to get enough air which seemed impossible. There was a rustling sound and his eyes opened to see Simon, Tori, and Andrew all standing up abruptly and looking down the hill with identical expressions of hatred and anger. Chloe just moved closer and lifted his head gently in her hands, stroking it and murmuring quietly to him. Half her face was cast into an odd yellow color as Tori shot hell fire from her hands. Chloe's tears fell onto his muzzle and his nose twitched when it filled with the scent of salt. He locked eyes with her and she forced a shaky smile. Behind her, the moon once again fell behind shadow. The wolf wondered why he was still holding on, there was such a strong urge pulling at him…

So he let go.

----XX----

Derek jerked awake and sat up quickly, upsetting his precarious situation on the small window seat and sending himself tumbling to the ground. His skin slapped against the tile on the kitchen floor and he shook his head to clear it.

"What the hell?" he grunted sleepily as he blinked hard. He heard a snort and looked over to see Simon leaning on the counter and smiling down at him.

"Morning sleepy, or, I guess, afternoon." He said gesturing to the clock that indicated it was **3:00PM**. Derek raised his eyebrows and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and pointer finger. "Whoa. You never used to sleep like this. Wonder what causing it now." Simon mumbled thoughtfully. Derek could have laughed, if it wouldn't convince Simon that he was mentally unstable. Derek knew what was causing his lack of sleep and it started with Ch and ended with loe.

Derek stood up and slumped back into the window seat, rubbing the back of his neck to work out the kink it had. No sleep had been achieved after she had fled his room for the second time. He couldn't, not after she did that. He had no idea what to think. He had no idea what to _do_. Now this; the same dream he had very early in the morning when he had finally gotten into a restless sleep. He did know if he could call it a premonition. He didn't want to, seeing as his dream ended badly for him.

A small explosion rocked the house and Derek shot to his feet the same time Simon's hands shot towards the door, posed to start shooting spells. Andrew lurched around the corner and saw them standing there before turning and running for the stairs. Derek and Simon looked at each other before following quickly.

"Oh! No, no, no! What went wrong? You were doing it perfectly!" Lillian's voice echoed from the disaster area. At this sound all three of them slowed to a walk and Andrew chuckled. The stepped over some pieces of wood and looked through the hole in the wall where the door used to be.

"Lil? Everything okay?" Andrew called peering through the dust. Derek heard Chloe coughing. Lillian forced her way through the dust and waved to them.

"Everything's under control! Chloe just had a slight mishap with her power setting, that's all." She said, sounding winded. Her frizzy red hair was standing on end and most of her face was covered in black soot. The dust cleared a bit more and they could see Chloe standing there, blushing and muttering apologies, perfectly clean and unharmed.

"What in the world was _that_?" Tori exclaimed as she stumbled out of her room and glared at them all. Andrew cleared his throat and stepped forward.

"Chloe just had a little accident." He said. Tori looked at the hole in the wall and raised her eyebrows incredulously.

"Right."

Andrew looked behind him and seemed to see the damage for the first time because he blinked rapidly and then scowled. The wolf was snickering quietly as he stretched. Lillian clapped her hands together and Chloe looked at her.

"I think that's enough for today, don't you?" She said cheerfully. Chloe looked around her and then nodded.

"That's probably a good idea." She agreed. Lillian smiled and patted Chloe on the head.

"Remember what I told you, now; control is the most important thing." Lillian said, waving her finger around in the air before walking to what was left of the door and stepping over it. She trained her eyes onto him and pointed her finger at him. "You. I need to speak with you, dear." She told him, motioning for him to follow with her finger. Derek wondered what she wanted but followed anyway, still cautious around her. She walked into the room she was using for her stay and picked up a My Little Pony brush which she began yanking through her hair. "Sit, please." She told him pointing to a chair with the hand not holding the brush.

Derek sat.

"Alright. You seem to have a thing with Chloe, yes?" She asked, looking back at him through her mirror. Derek shifted uncomfortably and looked at the ground.

"Not really." He answered. Having your wolf side thinking of her as his mate and kissing her didn't count did it? Lillian cocked an eyebrow.

"Really? Ow." She said, flinching when the brush got caught on a snarl in her hair. "I don't really believe that." Derek sighed and looked off to the side.

"Me either." He mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Hm. Right. Well, what you need to understand is that you two are entirely incompatible together. She will figure this out sooner rather than later because you are stopping her from achieving the level of concentration that she needs to control her powers. Apparently, she finds you distracting." Lillian told him, brushing her hair furiously and with determination. Derek chuckled to himself and shook his head. Lillian looked back at him. "Something funny?"

"Sort of. No one knows what you just said better than I do and I'm working on it." Derek informed her, ignoring the grumbles of the wolf. Lillian stared at him.

"You're a very mature person, Derek, far more than I was when I was your age, and you need to understand that, even though you are completely incompatible, for some reason, you are so wonderfully made for each other at the same time. You can do whatever you like to her after she learns to control herself. Deal?" Her tone had a playful sound to it now. Derek looked up at her quickly. "I'll take that as a yes. You can go now. See you at dinner." And with that she busied herself with her Mortal Kombat against her hair.

Derek stood up and left the room while the wolf laughed at him loudly.

----XX----

Dinner was as lively as always, more so now that Lillian had joined the group. There was so much food it rivaled any banquet that Derek had ever imagined. The wolf loved this, obviously, and drove Derek to grab as much of it as he could. Lillian and Simon were having a very animated argument about the different styles of art they preferred. Tori and Chloe were talking somewhat calmly about what they were going to do with Chloe's hair, occasionally Tori would scoff and make a face before shaking her head and picking up pieces of Chloe's hair and waving her other hand around.

Derek really didn't have too much time for conversation because he was busy stuffing his face full of mashed potatoes. Andrew had been true to his word and been a whole lot nicer to Derek than he had been. They had once again partaken in one of their favorite games to see how much Derek could put back before three minutes had past.

So far?

Three good sized helpings of mashed potatoes and gravy.

Andrew was whistling in awe as he alternated between watching the clock and watching Derek inhale the potatoes. "And… time." He said knocking on the table. Derek placed his spoon down on his porcelain plate with a clicking noise and looked over at Andrew as he swallowed that last bit of food.

"Impressed?" Derek asked, leaning back, crossing his arms, and looking over at him smugly.

"Impressed? Psh, please!" Lillian said from the other end of the table. "I once knew this guy named Big M. That man could put away more food than you could in three days."

"'Big M'?" Simon said. Lillian smiled and nodded.

"Yep. Surprisingly, he looked more like a stick, but whatever. He thought it was a cool name." She explained, shrugging. Simon laughed and Chloe choked on some of her water. Tori pounded her on her back and smiled wryly. Derek also allowed a small smile to break through before he stiffened and lifted his face suddenly, confused at what his nose was catching. The wolf growled a warning and Derek stood, turning towards the doorway.

"Derek?" Andrew asked, standing up and moving to stand next to him. Derek turned quickly and motioned for silence. He listened as hard as he could. There were the sounds of people moving in the bushes outside and in the surrounding foliage. He tested the air again. He couldn't recognize the scents. Then there was one he knew that he knew.

Smoke.

"Shit." He growled as he turned quickly and looked at the people who were collectively watching him. "We need to get out. Now." Derek said as he spun Andrew around towards the back door and pushed him. Chloe stood quickly and looked up at him.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Fire. Someone set part of the house on fire."

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**Sorry for the cliffy. Okay, now I'm starting to get to the middle of the story and it's going to get a bit more intense after this and not as much romance shall be had (There still will be some, don't you worry)**

**Review please!**


	11. It Makes One Wonder

**Grease Lightnin, Go Grease Lightnin!**

**Okay, here be the next chapter. Slightly cliched but whatever. Thank you for the comments and Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Travis the lawyer: Can I have the food?**

**Kayka-chan: No.**

**Travis the lawyer: I need food to live.**

**Kayka-chan: What's the magic sentence?**

**Travis the lawyer: You don't own Darkest Powers.**

**Kayka-chan: Good prisoner! -tosses Fritos into his cage-**

_

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_

_Foolish_

Chapter Eleven

----XX----

_Fear is not what I am afraid of.  
True, it is a frightful thing to fear;  
but the fear of fearing fear is overwhelming  
especially when its form becomes sheer_

----XX----

At a later date, Derek may admit (not likely, though. This _is _Derek we're talking about) that breaking the news that the house was going to burn down to a paroxysmal group of Supernaturals like he did was not such a sparkling idea.

"_What?_" Tori screeched shrilly, causing Derek's ears to ring.

"Shut up." He snarled at her and pushed her, none too gently, towards the back door while looking over his shoulder quickly. Lillian was already standing at the door, hand on the knob.

"I'm with the grouch. Let's go." She said, more serious than he had ever seen her, as she opened the door. She turned to walk out and froze. Just stopped moving. Derek frowned and went to nudge her forward when she suddenly began to jerk and shake like she was being electrocuted. She reared her head back and screamed. Tori screamed too and backed up quickly. Chloe started to scream, but cut herself off after the first note, clamping her hand over her mouth and clenching her eyes shut. Andrew swore before he rushed forward as Lillian's legs folded under her and she dropped. He caught her quickly and kicked the door shut before they all heard the sound of something crashing into it violently.

"Is she okay?" Chloe asked shakily, standing back and looking down at her through frightened eyes. Lillian's eyes were open, unseeing and unfocused. A thin trickle of blood leaked itself from the corner of her mouth as her fingers twitched spastically. Andrew placed his fingers at her neck and felt around for her pulse. His face was a battle, torn between fright and anger.

"She needs help." He mumbled, standing up quickly and holding her limp form in his arms awkwardly. The wolf growled angrily to remind him that they had a bit of a problem. Derek turned again and actually _saw_ the smoke now. At this sight, every swear word that he knew popped into his mind and became a sort of chant as he spun around, looking for a new way out. He whirled around to look down at Andrew.

"Is there any other way out?" Derek asked urgently. Andrew looked up at him and blinked a couple of times before nodding slowly.

"Yeah, there's one at the back of the house." He said, stepping quickly past them all and exiting the kitchen. Tori followed without question, Simon and Chloe looked at each other then at Derek who nudged them forward.

"Go." He told them. He followed, keeping his eyes and ears open. The sounds of people moving around had been drowned out by the sharp cracking and popping noises of the wood. Even though he couldn't see the flames yet, he could feel the heat and knew that this would not end well for them if they couldn't get out of the house soon. The wolf was twitchy, partially because he couldn't fight fire with brute strength.

They came to a hallway that they needed to turn down to get to the door and before they turned the corner, Derek knew something was wrong. The wolf gave one sharp bark as Derek lunged forward, past Simon, Chloe and Tori to latch onto Andrew's shoulder and yank him back, just in time for another explosion, one that sent flames and debris all over the place. Andrew shuddered once before looking up at Derek and smiling shakily.

"What was that?" Tori asked squeakily. Derek winced again and looked down at her.

"Probably your hairspray." He answered watching Andrew as he carefully inched forward to look at the fire.

"This… This is hell fire." He mumbled, almost indecipherable over the roar of the flames. Derek grit his teeth angrily and looked over at Chloe who had begun to cough. He was about to reach over and grab onto Andrew to get him to start walking but Andrew straightened himself up and turned quickly looking at them. He motioned for them to follow, readjusting his grip on Lillian as he briskly walked in the opposite direction of the fire. "We'll have to get out through a window."

Derek cleared his throat at the sudden appearance of the uncomfortable feeling the back of it. Simon coughed quietly and cleared his throat afterwards, sending a quick glance over at his brother. Tori stumbled and Derek whipped his hand out to catch her before she fell and slowed them all down. She didn't say thank you, she just scowled at him and snatched her arm out of his hands. Andrew moved quickly, peering into doors before moving on. He looked into one door and the poked his head back out like he was going to continue before doing a double take and looking back in.

He motioned with his head for them to follow as he kicked the door open the rest of the way and entering, followed by Tori, Simon, and Chloe. Derek entered, ever cautious of his surroundings, the wolf's instincts kicking in and setting him on end and having him even step carefully.

"Derek." Andrew snapped. Derek looked over at him and saw that he was holding out Lillian for Derek to take. "Quick." He hissed at Derek as he inched his arms under her and lifted. She was a lot lighter than he imagined she would be. Underweight, actually. He could feel her hip and rib bones through her clothing. Andrew was at the window, pushing it open and poking his head out before retracting it back in and nodding. "Right. Tori, you first." He whispered hurriedly. Tori rushed forward and scuttled through the window, dropping heavily onto the grass on the other side. Chloe followed and Simon went after her. "Okay, Derek, hand Lillian back and get through."

He gave Lillian back but didn't even try to fit himself through the window. He knew he couldn't make it through. Simon barely fit for god's sake!

"I won't fit." He grumbled. Andrew scowled and looked at the window.

"_Dammit_."

A tinkling laugh sounded from the door way and they both turned quickly, Derek sidestepping so that he stood in front of Andrew. The wolf snarled angrily at the woman standing in the doorway. She had herself propped against the frame and was looking at them through her carefully parted blonde hair. She gently pushed herself off the frame and stood there looking at them.

"Going somewhere boys?" She purred, her lips turning up in a mischevious smile as she raised her hands and Derek felt himself freeze, every muscle seeming to lock in place and stop him from moving. _Binding spell_, he thought angrily. "You're the wolf, so that means that the others must be…"The woman waltzed her way into the room and headed for the window that the other three had just leapt out of. "Out the window?" Derek fought against the spell furiously, his wolf side all but seizing at the thought that she would find them. The spell snapped its hold and Derek ran at her, trying to take her down or distract her or _something_. She saw him coming and cried out in shock, flinging her hands up.

A wave of power rammed into him, tossing him backwards and right through the wall. He seemed to stay in the air forever, suspended. In this time, he gave up and let the wolf take over, seeing as he himself probably had no chance beating this woman. The wolf howled in triumph at the same time Derek's back hit the ground and bounced him back up. The wolf flipped, summer salting almost, and caught Derek onto his feet, staying crouched low to the ground and looking at the hole he made in the wall. Andrew ran out, holding Lillian tighter than he was before and looking around desperately. As soon as he saw Derek's form crouched by the tree line, he relaxed and turned to the other three who were all separately alternating between looking at the hole, Derek, and Andrew.

A growl ripped its way through Derek's teeth when he saw the woman starting to exit the hole. It caused his companions to jump and look over at him. The woman stepped out of the hole as Derek shot to his feet and stared at her, tense and ready for her to fire another spell at him. She smirked and raised her hands, completely unaware that Tori had already figured out what was going on and sent out a spell of her own. The woman froze, this time, and her eyes widened in surprise. Andrew motioned for the three to follow him and he jogged up to Derek.

"There's a lodge in the forest that we can hide in. Could you find it?" Andrew asked him sounding winded. Derek looked down at them then he looked back at the forest and inhaled deeply. He remembered seeing something like a lodge when he was out running and he figured he could follow his own trail back towards it. He could find it.

"Yeah." He answered, turning back to look at them. There was a flash of movement at the side of the house and Derek turned to look. There was a man, a very angry looking man, standing at the corner, and he wasn't alone. There were more and more people gathering around him and all sending death glares their way. Derek reached forward and grabbed onto Chloe and Simon's arms, pulling them back when he recognized a few of the people from the Edison Group. Andrew looked over and turned to face them, something like disbelief on his face.

The angry man opened his mouth to say something, but before he could do that, the house suddenly let out a loud groaning noise, flames shooting out of the windows and in the hole he had made. The witch, who had been frozen, broke the spell and ran towards the man ushering him back by shouting. Derek took the hint and looked down at everyone.

"Follow me." He said before turning and starting to jog off into the woods. Derek tested the air, searching for his scent and wishing that a breeze would magically blow in and get rid of the odor of the smoke and burning wood so that he could find his own scent easier. He could hear the sounds of them following him and used that to let him know he hadn't lost anyone so that he could concentrate. He inhaled deeply lifting his face towards the canopy of trees and looking up at the sky, half orange and half black as the sun set.

The house let out its loudest groan yet and then a loud crack sounded, causing Derek to turn his head quickly and look back, stopping to watch. The house had been engulfed in the flames now and was tumbling to the ground, wood crashing into wood while the fire ate it up greedily. The people that had been near the house were running at them now, the angry guy and the witch in the lead. Derek swore and turned to the others.

"Get in front of me and run. Split up and hide. I'll find you." He said. Andrew looked ready to argue but Derek glowered at him and he thought better of it. Chloe and Simon were also somewhat reluctant to part with him and Tori didn't move because she probably didn't want to be the only one running away. "Go. Now." He snarled at them. They looked at each other before all branching off and running in separate directions.

Derek waited until they were out of sight before he too ran, as fast as he could. Then he felt his muscles lock up again. The angry man walked up behind him, breathing heavily and sweating, holding his hand out and trying to work up the energy to smile triumphantly. Derek started rattling off curses at the man as he surveyed him like a piece of meat on a shelf.

"A wolf, eh?" He said, still winded, "I haven't had the displeasure of meeting one in a while. Filthy animals, they act like they're that much better than us just because they have the strength on their side." Derek's rage sparked as he realized that the man was talking about him like he wasn't there. He and the wolf both snarled at the man, the sound getting out even though he was caught in a binding spell. The angry man looked angrier and twisted his wrist, sending Derek crashing into a tree. "Silence, beast." The man spat at him as he reached into his pocket and brought out a syringe full of a milky liquid. "Those fucking scientists told me to give this to you. A… present, if you will. However, you will find that I don't take kindly as being used as a pawn, so I mixed in a few things of my own." He proclaimed, uncapping the syringe and looking up at him.

He moved forward, turning his hand so that the needle was heading straight for Derek's arm. The wolf noticed this and began to bark at Derek to move, for which Derek angrily retorted that he couldn't. The man shoved the needle into Derek's arm roughly and pushed the plunger all the way down quickly as Derek grunted in pain. The spell had broken and the man had back away quickly, capping the syringe and sticking it back into his pocket. Derek growled at him and went to take a step forward before he dropped to his knees, a familiar feeling taking over his whole body.

A crack of pain smashed its way through Derek's body, starting from his toes and ending at the top of his head. He felt his muscles shifting, moving…

Changing.

_Fuck_, he thought brutally as his body once again went through the change. His bones, down to the very marrow seemed to sing of pain and stress as they cracked in odd places and shifted around. He felt his back shoot up into the air like it had twice before and knew that something was wrong automatically. That his change was going way too fast. Queasiness overwhelmed him as his internal organs began to undergo their change too, and his stomach clenched, causing him to spew all of the dinner he had eaten onto the ground. Even when it was gone, his stomach continued its change, shifting into a different position and shrinking.

He felt hot.

All over his body, he felt like someone was shoving a white hot iron rod into his skin and letting it sit there. He felt his fingers crack and twist as they began to mutate into paws. The familiar sensation of his face being stretched occurred and he tried to brace himself for the pain he knew was to come. Another crack and the feeling like a bull or a truck going ninety miles per hour smashing straight into his face caused him to throw back his head and howl in agony.

Throughout the pain, one thought was clear in his head; _What the hell had that man given him?_

Well, that and; _Jesus Christ, this hurts!_

He knew that he was almost done, that the change was going to be over with soon. It was sort of a feeling. The pain wasn't as bad now that most of it was out of the way. When his entire body convulsed, shook, and jerked again, a strong blast of pain once again working its way around his body, Derek thought that he was wrong. Then, the pain was gone. Just like that, he was pain free.

He was dizzy, nauseated, and he couldn't figure out how to stand on all four feet, but he was pain free. The man laughed as Derek struggled to stand up. "You shouldn't move yet, pup." He said evilly, advancing on him. Derek knew that he needed to move, that there was no way in hell he could fight this guy and win. He struggled to his feet, stood there on wobbly legs, before lunging at the man's leg and chomping down with his newly acquired canines. He bit hard enough that the man cried out in pain, but not as hard as he very well could have.

When the man fell, Derek turned and ran off. He shook his head, trying to rid his mouth of this man's foul blood. Behind him, angry guy yelled; "You can't escape us, and _they_ won't let you escape!" Derek ignored him and concentrated on picking up the scent of his scattered party. When he caught Simon's scent, mingled with Chloe's fresher one, he yipped excitedly and picked up his speed.

As he ran, he completely forgot about the fact that he was being chased by a group of seemingly elite Supernaturals and got lost in the feeling. The wind created by the swiftness of his movement swirled recently obtained fur around and the feeling of the mud squishing between his paws was an oddly satisfying sensation that he had only ever imagined or dreamed. The other animals, probably unused to seeing a wolf, had gotten wary at his sudden appearance, especially since he was running at such a high speed and bolted to their dens. Derek felt exhilarated and unstoppable.

That is, until a gun shot rang through the forest and caused the trunk of a tree inches from his head explode into thousands of tiny shards. He flinched away and lowered his head as he ran onward, deliberating whether to still try to find Chloe and Simon or if he should lead his pursuers away from them. Another shot rang out and that settled the debate; Derek curved and headed in a different direction.

A familiar sound suddenly reached his sensitive ears, causing one of them to swivel around to better catch the sound. Another one raised its voice and Derek's blood froze as he recognized the cheap howl of more than one hound. He growled softly as he remembered his dream, but shook his head and lowered it to try and help him pick up speed. As he ran, his eyes flashed around, looking for a place he could get where the hounds wouldn't be able to.

The hard reality that he was bigger than the hounds, so anywhere he could get they could too, caused him to deliberate climbing a tree. He debated what he was going to do, when the sounds of rushing water reached his sensitive ears and he would have smiled if he could. He swerved and headed for the river, leaping in. He didn't expect the strength of the current as it pulled him under and he worked all of his legs trying to get himself back up. He resurfaced and lugged himself over to the edge, pulling himself out of the water and swinging his tail around to rid it of the water.

The farther he ran, the more he realized that the place looked familiar. Oddly familiar and he didn't pay any attention to it until he saw the pile of rocks from his dream. He skidded to a halt and didn't try to jump over; knowing what would happen if he did. He turned and lifted his nose to the breeze, sniffing and listening for the hounds. He could hear them. They couldn't be that far off and he needed to—

A gunshot cracked as something moving fast smashed into his side and he yelped in surprise. Him and his unexpected savior skidded into the trees and came to a halt. Derek shook himself off and squeezed himself out from under the person, looking down. His heart leapt into his throat and he whined as Chloe winced and moved herself around.

He wanted to know if she was okay, but he couldn't really express that when his vocal cords only allowed for howling and barking. She winced again as she heaved herself onto her feet and Derek took to sniffing her for blood. The only injury he could find was a hole in her clothing where the bullet meant for him had passed through. She hadn't said anything and had been staring at him while he moved around her.

"You… You're a wolf." She stated. Derek looked up at her in what he hoped was a look that said; '_Really_? I hadn't noticed…' The baying of the hounds snapped him back to the present and he gently latched onto her sleeve and pulled her forward. She stumbled and turned to him. He huffed in irritation and head butted her, trying to get her to move. "Are you coming with?" She asked him. He wagged his tail and bobbed his head in what he assumed looked like a nod _yes_. "Okay." She said and ran. Derek turned back to look in the directions of the hounds. He racked his brain for something that would scare them off enough to keep them from following his scent…

Derek's ears perked up as the idea struck him and he looked back at Chloe who had run a short distance away but had stopped and was looking at him. He didn't want her to hear this, but he didn't have much of a choice. He took a few steps forward and sampled the air again. They were close enough now to get his drift.

He leaned his head back and howled. He howled for as long as he could, alternating notes and ending it with a snarl. He could smell the hound's apprehension now that they knew what they were dealing with and he figured that it would be a bit before their masters got them to cooperate in the quest to hunt them down.

He turned and loped over to Chloe who was staring at him. He avoided looking up at her and nudged her to get moving again. She began to run, way slower than he was and he had trouble keeping his pace slow enough so that he didn't outstrip her.

He found the lodge that Andrew had talked about and he got Chloe inside, following her. He walked around it once, sniffing and listening. The only scents he could detect were his and Chloe's. The others had faded away over time. The only thing he could hear was his and Chloe's breathing along with the clicking sounds his nails made on the wood floor.

Chloe leaned against the wall and slid down onto her butt. Derek sidled up beside her and curled up, his tail touching his nose. They sat there and waited for someone to find them, Andrew or the other people, they didn't' know.

For now, they were safe.

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**Woo!**

**Review Please!**


	12. In the Camping Lodge

**City morgue, you stab em, we slab em! (coughcoughHOTARULOVERcoughcough)**

**Okay! Another chapter! I had someone annonymously ask me the a question that I interperated to be asking how many chapters I was going to have and the answer is somewhere around twenty-twenty five chapters total. Thanks for the reviews and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Travis the lawyer: -scratches tik marks into the wall with his nail-**

**Kayka-chan: Stop writing on my wall. I need that for seducing.**

**Travis the lawyer: I'm just counting down the days till my contract is over.**

**Kayka-chan: Until then...**

**Travis the lawyer: She don't own Darkest Powers.**

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_Foolish_

Chapter Twelve

----XX----

_If home is not here,  
Where is it?  
If death brings us home,  
Then where are we when alive?  
If home is not here,  
Life means we are not at home.  
This makes no sense to me._

----XX----

Derek rolled his shoulders around, squinting his eyes and making a displeased face at the way the old leather jacket fit on him. The pants weren't any better either, because, while they were long enough to compliment his height, the person who owned them previously either really like to have his pants very, very loose, or was seriously overweight. He growled in frustration as he hefted the pants up again.

He had, thankfully, turned back into his humanoid form while Chloe was exploring the two only other rooms in the small cabin. She had heard the noise and soon figured out that she probably didn't need to see what she was about to and left again, sparing him the awkwardness that surely would have ensued.

Not that it wasn't embarrassing as hell, because it's hard _not_ to be embarrassed when you wrap a flowery _drape_ around your hips to hide the fact you have no clothing on, but there was definitely less embarrassment than the situation could have held.

He hiked the pants up again and tried to pull the coat far enough around his broad shoulders and zip it shut. After some battling, Derek had to face the hard fact that he wasn't going to zip it shut. He sighed and began to walk out of the tiny bathroom, sparing himself only a glance in the direction of the mirror, already aware that he looked like a complete and total clown, picking up the drape on the way out. He squeezed himself out of the doorway, fitting his hulk through the tiny crack that the door would allow itself to be opened to.

Chloe was sitting on one of the dusty seats at the dining table and offered him a shy smile when he entered the main room. He nodded to her while he shuffled himself over to the window that he took the drape down from, tossing it back over to hide the window from view. He fiddled with it until he was completely sure that no one would be able to see in. He turned around, pulling the pants up again, wincing at the way the chaffed, before looking at Chloe who was staring at him.

"Do you feel okay?" She asked him a concerned tone to her voice. Derek gave one curt nod before wondering over to the cabinets and began pulling them open, looking for the food he knew that Chloe wanted while she peppered him with questions. "How long have we been here? When are we going to go find the others? Do you think that they're okay? Who were those people that attacked us? Why did you turn into a wolf? What is this place?"

"Okay, slow down." He said, waving one of his hands in her direction while he reached his other one back into the cabinet to grab onto a dusty, but no less good, pack 'o uncooked chicken Ramen. Derek almost grinned in triumph and tossed it around in his hands. "We have been here for at least a few hours, _I _will go to find the others when I think that it's safe," Derek answered, putting heavy emphasis on _I_, "They're fine, I'm not sure who they were that attacked us, but I did see some Edison Group people in the mix, my transformation was a fluke, and I'm guessing this place was where the grounds keeper stayed." He juggled the ramen pack in his hand for a bit before tossing it towards her. "Here."

The pack of Ramen landed on the table in front of Chloe with a dull, rattling, crack and slid a bit. Chloe leaned back quickly before picking it up and turning it this way and that. She stopped when she started to read something on the bottom. "Derek, this expired two years ago." Chloe bluntly said, putting it down and delicately pushing it away. He snorted and looked down at her.

"It's either expired Ramen or nothing and I don't' know how long we could be stuck in here."

"… I _love_expired ramen"

"That's what I thought."

She smiled over at him before cautiously opening the pack up and breaking the raw noodles in half with a soggy _crack_. Chloe squealed quietly as the pieces crumbled in her fingers and she shook them off, sticking one in her mouth and handing the other half to Derek. He regarded it carefully before reaching over and taking it carefully.

"Thanks." He mumbled before he broke off a piece and stuck it in his mouth. It was bland and tasteless, altogether nasty, but it was food and they both needed something of the sort. He ate his quickly, practically inhaling it, but Chloe ate hers carefully, breaking off small pieces and chewing on them thoughtfully before repeating the sequence again. While she ate her food he wandered around, looking at things a bit more carefully than he had before.

It was a boring old camping lodge mostly made of wood.

There was a fire place that Derek didn't dare light, one reason being that the smoke from the chimney would tell everyone where they were hiding, and two because Derek had no idea if it was clean and he didn't want a whole bunch of crud to fill up the cottage.

Derek felt weird. He was on constant alert but his instincts were dulled because his wolf half was exhausted and sleeping more soundly than he ever had. It was like that time he lost the bet to Simon and had to chug ten Red Bulls in a row. He was high strung but there didn't seem a purpose to it.

At the thought of Simon, his mood took an even steeper nose dive than it already was taking. Sure, he told Chloe that they would be fine, but, seriously? He had absolutely no freaking idea where they were or if any of them were okay. Lillian seemed like she needed immediate medical attention and if they were hiding, she was not getting the care she needed. Plus, what's to say that Simon or Tori or Andrew hadn't gotten taken by their attackers?

Absolutely nothing, that's what.

Derek would have growled if it wouldn't have freaked Chloe out. _This is fan- fucking –tastic_, he thought wrathfully to himself, pacing around the small room. He crossed is arms in front of his chest and hunched himself over as he walked in his circle of thought.

"What are you doing?" Derek stopped moving and looked over at Chloe, who was watching his progress with an amused expression.

"Thinking." He grumbled, rubbing his face with one of his large, cool hands. Derek realized that they smelt like wet dirt. Chloe made a humming noise and pushed the chair back with her feet while standing up, balling the Ramen wrapper up loudly and looking around for a place to throw it. Finding none she just sighed and rolled it onto the table where it quickly unfolded and lay there defiantly.

"What about?" she questioned, coming up to stand beside him. Derek grumbled to himself quietly before taking a few steps back from her and throwing his arms akimbo as if to embrace the room.

"Where are we?" He asked rhetorically. Chloe answered anyway.

"A cabin." She responded astutely, cocking an eyebrow.

"Exactly." Derek snapped. "We're _hiding_ in a cabin, from bad people who want to kill us. By my account, we have made absolutely no progress since we escaped from Lyle House. No dad, no vanquishing of the Edison Group, nothing." He huffed and resumed his pacing as Chloe just stood there looking at the floor. He stopped and took a deep calming and cleansing breath. He glanced at Chloe from the corner of his eye. "I'm just frustrated, that's all." He went for an apologetic tone and hoped she could hear it.

"I know what you mean." She breathed, frowning and shuffling her feet, shivering at the chilly air and looking around the room. Derek scratched his head wearily, looking down at her.

"You cold?" he asked, for lack of better thing to say to her.

"I'm good." Chloe answered as she shivered so hard her teeth clicked together. Derek rolled his eyes, because she was just _so_ convincing. He shed the jacket and held it out to her.

"Here." He said, Chloe shook her head and pushed away his hand holding the jacket.

"Keep it. You need it more than I do." She said, pointing out the already obvious fact he had only a jacket and pants. He grunted, more concerned about her than himself. He didn't get sick as easily as regular people did and he would suck it up and live without a jacket.

"No, I don't. Take it." He said once again pushing his hand forward. Chloe looked up at him and hesitantly took the jacket, mumbling her thanks. Derek nodded and once again looked around the room while she slipped the jacket on. It had to be nearing midnight by now, seeing as it was getting to be its darkest, and Derek hoped that their attackers would give up and sleep so that he could go and find the rest of the group.

"Do you think it's safe to go look for them yet?" Chloe asked, looking at the window covered by the drape.

"I don't know yet." He shot her a look. "And, just so we get this straight, when we go looking for them, which I'm not even sure I should take you yet, you stay close to me. Don't go wandering off after something shiny." Chloe rolled her eyes and wrinkled her nose.

"I'm not five, Derek. I know I'm not supposed to run off." She retorted haughtily, turning and sliding down the wall again. She pulled her legs up to her chest and leaned her face into her thighs. Derek looked around. She looked so small and vulnerable like that. It was…

_Wrong._

Derek bit the inside of his cheek and worked his way over to her again, sitting down next to her while still keeping a respectable distance. He ignored the chills that raised the hairs on his arm from the cold wall touching his bare back.

He tapped his toe restlessly when she didn't even look up to acknowledge his presence. He began to wonder if he said something that offended her. All that he could think of was the remark about her chasing a shiny object.

"Are you okay?" He asked gruffly, looking over at her out of the corner of his eye. Her head shot up and turned towards him. She tucked a few strands of her hair out of her face and shrugged.

"Just tired." She answered. She moved herself around, the leather making strained noises with her movement. Derek grunted and looked over at the bedroom. There was a mattress on the frame, but it was old and dusty and rickety. Not exactly an award winner in the comfort area either, Derek was sure. He glanced over at Chloe again and realized that it probably didn't even matter to her.

"You can sleep in the bedroom." He offered. Chloe blinked, hope lighting up her blue eyes beautifully before it snubbed out and replaced itself with worry.

"Where would you sleep?" She questioned. Derek shrugged noncommittally. He planned on sleeping on the floor, near to Chloe so that if she needed help he was right there. Easier than having to vault over stuff to get to her because Derek had learned that running took up valuable time that could be used for better things.

"Floor." Chloe lay her head down on her knees, still facing him. She looked up at him exasperatedly.

"Well, that doesn't seem too awfully fair." She mumbled, staring holes through him.

"I'll live." Derek responded sardonically.

"And praise the lord for that." Chloe grumbled as she heaved herself to her feet and began walking for the bedroom. Derek stood, too, watching as this tiny girl moved away from him. She was about to open the door when she turned her top half around to look at him. "Come on." He blinked at the way this all seemed laid out right now.

Chloe was opening a door to a bedroom while simultaneously beckoning him to come with her.

Hm.

Yeah.

This sounded startlingly familiar to some fantasies of his.

He quickly shrugged off the thought before it woke up the wolf and nodded, following her in and shutting the door behind him. Chloe had worked her way onto the bed and had sprawled herself out on it. Very reminiscent to the 'Dead cat' sprawl.

"Smells weird." She mumbled sleepily, her eyelids already drooping closed. Derek smirked and sat down on the floor at the foot of the bed, drifting off slowly. He really hoped that Simon was okay…

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**Ta-da! **

**Review please!**


	13. As the Crow Demands

**Sweet little bumblebee, more than just a fantasy...**

**Thanks for el coments and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Kayka-chan: -crying-**

**Travis the lawyer: -uncomfortable-**

**Kayka-chan: Why don't you love me?!**

**Travis the lawyer: Um... What?**

**Kayka-chan: OH GOD!!!**

**Travis the lawyer: I think she's having a meltdown because she doesn't own darkest powers...**

**Kayka-chan: ALAS POOR YORIK!!**

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_Foolish_

Chapter Thirteen

----XX----

_The river is moving…_

_The blackbird must be flying._

----XX----

"Calm down, Chloe. I know where I'm going." Derek barked at her, patience running thin.

"We're totally lost, and you know we are, so don't go and pull that whole; 'I know where I'm going.' Crap, because none of this looks familiar." Chloe grumbled, crossing her arms and looking up at a large tree. Derek let out an annoyed and breathy growl as he heaved himself up from his crouched position, taking in the scents. Chloe was a bit too far away back from him for his tastes, but he could still hear every word she said.

"I am not lost." He hollered in her direction. "So stop saying that or you might jinx us. And what do you want me to do? Ask for directions?" Chloe snorted and kicked at a pile of leaves.

"That would be helpful, yes!" She hissed at him. Derek rolled his eyes and pulled the small coat tighter around his bulk. They had woken up the next morning and Derek had given the okay for a quick sweep of the area. It looked very different to Chloe who didn't have his night vision so she _assumed_ that they were lost.

"Well, too bad because I don't need directions." Derek retorted snippily. Chloe stood there taking in deep breaths before she relaxed, her shoulders slumping and she looked over at him awkwardly.

"Sorry. I'm just in a bad mood." She apologized gently. Derek set his mouth in a straight line and continued his sniffing. He understood her temper perfectly. He was in just as bad of a mood. All it took was for him to tell himself that it could be a lot worse for his mouth to stay shut and not start snapping things at Chloe to get rid of the dark disposition.

"Whatever." He grunted before lifting his face to an oncoming breeze and inhaling deeply. The wolf snarled and his hackles were up immediately as he smelt the familiar scent of the angry-man's blood. Derek sprinted quickly up to Chloe and shooed her back into the shadows of the trees. She didn't protest because she had learned by now that he knew best. Derek positioned himself between her and the direction from which the scent was coming. He was tense, his eyes darting quickly from opening, to opening; not once giving the man an opportunity to get through. The wolf growled.

"Who's there?" Chloe whispered from behind him. He flinched as that one noise muffled the other noises and he motioned for silence. She complied and the forest was once again open to his ears. There weren't any sounds of someone walking, and the scent of the blood seemed the only indication of the man. Derek allowed himself to relax slightly as he began to walk towards the scent.

"Come on." He grunted to Chloe who nodded and quickly ran up to his side. They walked, Derek's whole body still tensed just in case. The wolf was becoming more and more befuddled by the scent the closer they got to it. Derek also was slightly confused as he sniffed the air, the blood taking on a familiar quality.

He moved a tree branch out of the way for Chloe and stepped under it himself and then they were staring down at a blood soaked patch of grass, crushed where a body had been lying. The scent of blood was overwhelming to Derek so he knew that Chloe smelled this too. He glanced over at her and saw that she had gone pale her bottom lip quivering as her blue eyes widened.

"W-w-whose b-blood is this?" She whispered, looking up at him. Derek winced and wanted to hug her; that's how pathetic she looked.

"No one from our group." He assured her, carefully. Her eyes fluttered close in relief and she swayed. Derek gently grabbed onto the top of her arm to steady her. She leaned into him briefly before shaking her head and straightening up again. The wolf and Derek both studied her carefully. She was getting some color back to her face and she didn't look like she was going to faint anytime soon so they both turned back to the blood spot.

"Do we know this person?" Chloe asked, crouching down a good distance away from it but close enough so that she could see it better. Derek was trying to keep his distance because he really didn't want the blood scent clouding up his nose.

"You don't know him. It's the guy that forced me to turn into a wolf. I must have bit him harder than I…" Derek trailed off as he realized the significance of his words. Chloe looked up at him with a questioning expression but Derek was too busy freaking out to really notice it.

He had _bit_ him.

He had bit him _hard_.

Derek had just ruined the life of a man.

Derek had just created another werewolf…

Without even trying.

What had happened to the angry man?

Had his body started rejecting the virus the moment he had contracted it, causing him to go into cardiac arrest? Or, the more likely one, would be that his body refused to clot up to stop the bleeding of the bite and the man had bleed out all of his blood, slowly, and painfully.

Had his body been so surprised at the introduction of the virus that it had immediately tried to change into a wolf? It wasn't possible for him to do it so soon because his body hadn't even had time to adapt and get ready for the change, so he had probably died. Quicker this time, but more agonizingly.

Or had the virus taken seed? Was there another werewolf wandering around? Was it even possible for a body to hold two powers?

The cold feeling of dread that had wormed its way around Derek's body finished in his stomach, causing it to clench painfully. Far too many things were flying through his head at the moment. There was panic and fear, self disgust and curiosity. He couldn't help but wonder why he did that; he had never once slipped up before, always beyond careful to make sure he didn't contaminate anyone.

His vision focus on Chloe. What if, next time, he bit her instead? He stumbled back a few steps at the thought. The wolf growled angrily at Derek, furious that he would even think that he would attack his mate. Derek shook his head and angrily retorted that the wolf had no claim to Chloe.

"Derek?" Chloe asked. He jerked and looked down at her, removing his hand from his head. She was looking up at him, scared and shaky again. She was close, very close. He looked down at her before clenching his eyes shut and shaking his head so that his hair fell into his eyes.

"What?" He mumbled, backing up a step away from her. She stood there, hugging herself and looking at him.

"What yourself, what's wrong?" She answered, almost quieter than before. Derek looked off to the side. He didn't want to tell her. He didn't want her to think that he was some sort of beast that was incapable of controlling his self. He didn't want to have to admit that he might have killed a man.

He didn't want her to be scared of him.

Yet, looking down at her, Derek knew that she wouldn't be like that. This was Chloe, she unnaturally and creepily understood. She could take whatever weirdness his werewolf dished out and come back for more. She had actually _pet_ him in his wolf form, not shied away and avoided looking at him. He knew he could trust her.

"I… I bit him. You remember what I said about that right?" He said, talking a little slower and in a lower volume than normal. She didn't move aside from cocking her head to the side and scrunching up her eyebrows in confusion. Then her eyes widened and she brought a hand to her mouth.

"Oh!" She said, looking up at him. Derek flinched at the quick flashes of fear going through her eyes. He turned away from her and looked around the forest. A flash of black out of the corner of his eye caused him to whip his head to the side and push Chloe behind him in one fluid movement. He left his hand on her stomach to keep her from moving around and making unnecessary noise. When he saw nothing there, he quickly removed his hand from Chloe.

"Sorry." He muttered, not looking at her. Chloe reached forward and latched onto the sleeve of the jacket. Derek clenched his teeth and steeled himself for her to tell him that he was dangerous and freaky and that she was going to go off and try to find the others on her own…

"Are you okay?" She asked, looking up at him with concern.

…

Wait, what?

"What are you talking about Chloe?" He asked, turning to look at her. She still had a good grip on the sleeve and she was looking him over.

"I'm asking how you're doing. I know you, you're probably beating yourself up over this." She stated, pointing at him with her free hand. Derek blinked in surprise and slight indignation. She didn't know him, what makes her think that she has the right to say that? Even if she was right…

"If I am?" He rejoined. She sighed.

"Then you need to stop! You did what you had to."

"Did I? I could have knocked him over and run, I could have jumped over him, I could have run a different direction. There are so many different things that I could have done besides biting him." He snapped at her. Chloe scowled.

"Because, you wouldn't have done something like that without a good enough reason!" she answered, her voice rising in volume the more exasperated she got. The tension was in the air, and all of the pent up frustration and anger that they had both built up of the course of a week exploded into once shouting match.

"There you go again! You seem to think that I am pushed to my limits whenever something that's my fault happens, but, Chloe, they don't!"

"Of course they do! If you would just slow down and stop wallowing in self pity for a few seconds –"

"Wallowing? Self pity?"

"Yes!"

"You seem to know exactly what I'm doing, don't you? New flash; You have no idea."

"Don't I?"

"No." _Thank god_.

"Oh, well, fine then! I'm sorry that I assumed that we were a little closer than just your average strangers. Especially since you _kissed me_!"

Derek opened his mouth to retort but shut it again so fast that his teeth clicked together. He looked down at her, his eyes widening slightly before he squinted down at her again, lowing his voice to a normal speaking tone.

"I wasn't the only one, if I recall correctly." He growled at her. Chloe blushed and looked away.

"Th-that… w-well, um…" She stuttered, turning so red it was a wonder that steam didn't come billowing out of her ears. Derek couldn't help but watch with an air of amusement about him. She looked at the ground and mumbled, so quietly his super-ears almost didn't hear it; "Was there some reason I couldn't?"

He felt his body go slack at this.

What in the world? What was she trying to get at? He was about to ask her that when the wolf warned him to be careful and a loud cawing echoed around the clearing. Derek twitched, growled, and reached forward, grabbing onto Chloe and pulling her close to him so that he knew where she was. He looked over toward the source of the cawing and saw a crow sitting on a branch, looking down at them.

Derek frowned and sampled its scent. Animals didn't do this around him, they just left him alone. The crow cocked his head to and fro sporadically, looking around and at them. He flapped his wings loudly and tilted his head back, letting out the cawing again. Derek realized it sounded suspiciously like laughter.

"You. Wolf." The crow choked out at him. Chloe jumped and looked back over at the crow that in turn looked down at her, his eye twinkling down at her in amusement. He let out his cawing laughter again and pointed with one of his feet. "That way." He said and then took off in the direction he had instructed. Derek didn't move. He didn't know what the heck was going on and wasn't about to trust randomly talking animals.

"Did the bird just talk?" Chloe whispered to him. Derek nodded, watching the bird fly away. She turned to look over at his retreating figure, clinging tightly to Derek's coat. "What does he want?"

Almost as if to answer her question, the crow landed on a branch and turned back toward them, calling; "Follow! Come!" Derek blinked and tried to get a whiff of the air in the direction the bird wanted them to go. He couldn't smell anything wrong and the wolf wasn't objecting to his follow of the crow.

"Let's go." He said, moving after the crow and motioning for her to follow.

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**Wewt!**

**Review please!**


	14. Death Trap

**Ooga!!**

**Hi again!! Thank you for the comments, they'er like the best fuel sorce in the world, and thank you for taking the time to read this!! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Travis the lawyer: -slightly creeped out at how good of a mood I'm in-**

**Kayka-chan: -smiles-**

**Travis the lawyer: Um... Did you buy the Darkest Powers from her or something?**

**Kayka-chan: Nope. I still don't own it.**

**Travis the lawyer: ... Stop being happy. It's weird.**

**Kayka-chan: Hey! I'm always happy!**

**Travis the lawyer: Right.**

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_Foolish_

Chapter Fourteen

----XX----

_Don't fall too deep  
Into the death trap  
There is nothing to gain  
And everything to lose_

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_----XX----

"Why does he keep laughing every time he looks at us?" Chloe whispered to Derek, cupping her hand to her mouth and shooting a paranoid look over at the crow. Derek shrugged his shoulders and gently kept a fearful hand on Chloe's elbow as she quickly stepped over a raised tree branch. He had tried to stop following the crow after he realized how stupid it was to up and follow some random talking bird, but when they tried to go a different way the crow would make a loud racket and swoop down on them, herding them in the other direction.

"I don't know." Derek mumbled, keeping his eyes trained on the crow, swooping and curling around the twisted branches of the trees. He landed on one and looked at them, once again causing him to burst into seemingly uncontrollable laughter as he resumed his guiding.

They were getting into a wilder and older part of the forest. The trees seemed unrealistically menacing and large, casting such large shadows that only straggling beams of light would shine through like small spotlights. The wolf was wary, very, very wary, and Derek's muscles had been in a constant tested state as a result of that. His gaze kept alternating between Chloe and the Crow, instincts battling and not knowing who to watch more closely.

Derek was violent jerked back to reality when he slipped on some wet rock and started to slide down the hill that had appeared in front of him. He cursed violently and dug his fingers into the gravel around him, ignoring the stinging, and trying to stop his self from sliding into the raging river at the bottom of the hill. He skidded to a stop but didn't move for fear of falling into the water. The crow landed next to his hand and began to peck at his fingers.

"Knock it off!" Derek growled at the bird. He jumped back and fluttered his wings indignantly.

"No! Let go!" He cawed at him. "River! Go!" Derek stared at him. The bird was completely crazy. The river was obviously too strong for anyone to swim in it and there was probably a silt bottom to it, making it impossible to stand up and wade across.

"Hell no." Derek responded dryly and with as much finality as he could muster. The crow cawed wordlessly and loudly, taking flight and heading for Chloe who was standing up and looking down at him with relived eyes. Derek was also somewhat relived that he hadn't taken her down with him, but that feeling lasted for a total of six seconds before it was replaced with anger and surprise. The crow flew over behind Chloe and rammed into her as hard as it's little body could, knocking himself to the ground in a heap as Chloe screeched and tumbled down the hill and straight into the river. Derek didn't stop to think how bad it was to go into the river at the moment and he pulled his finger out of the grass and gravel, sliding down after her and into the water with a splash.

Water surrounded him, dark, swirling, and freezing. His whole body was under the water and air exited his mouth in a torrent of bubbles that swirled around his sight and were drug away by the current. He was being tossed, head over heel making it impossible to find which way was up. He had swallowed a good gulp of the water on his initial entry and he could feel it clogging up his windpipe. His lungs clenched and burned as they fought for air.

Even though all of this was happening, he found that he could think clearly. He _knew _that he had to get to the surface because he _needed_ to breathe, he _knew_ that if he was having a hard time than Chloe was in even more danger than he was and he _needed_ to get to her, and he knew that he was _going_ to _strangle _the crow once he got out of here.

He kicked experimentally and twisted his head around, opening his eyes under the water and trying to find the surface. There was a light off to the side and his head turned towards it, almost in slow motion due to the friction of the water. He changed direction and kicked his way up to the surface quickly. He broke through the water and took in a huge breath of air. Derek bobbed along with the current, looking around for Chloe and trying to keep his head above the water at the same time.

The crow swooped down in front of him and cawed in his face. Derek snarled at him. The crow ignored this and flew over a few paces and hovered above the water, its wings working hard. He cawed a bit and looked down before looking back over at Derek.

"Chloe!" He cawed. Derek completely forgot his anger at the crow when he mentioned her name. Derek looked where the crow was trying to get him to look before looking back up at the crow stupidly. The wolf began to freak out, trying to reason that his mate hadn't drowned yet.

"She's there?" He croaked out, his throat pained from the water he swallowed. The crow cawed loudly and flailed wildly. Derek took that as a yes and began to pull his self through the water in that direction. The wolf yipped urgently, hurrying him on. Derek swam his way over to her and reached his hands down, feeling for her. He nearly jumped out of his skin when his fingers brushed something that felt like human hair, but he quickly recovered and dove under, grabbing onto Chloe and yanking her back up again.

She chocked and gagged and gasped and clung to him like her life depended on it, which, in all honesty, it probably did. The crow cawed again and Derek jerked his head in the direction of the sound, seeing him hopping up and down excitedly on the opposite side of the river. Derek grit his teeth and tightened his hold on Chloe before he gave some vicious kicks that brought him to the river's edge.

He heaved him and Chloe out of the water and laid Chloe down looking her over for any signs of damage. She was hacking up half of the water she inhaled and she was clearly shaken up, but other than that she seemed to be fine. The wolf whined in relief and Derek had to agree. He flopped onto his butt and breathed shakily. He watched her as she tried to roll herself over and sit up. He stood up and stood above her in case she fell over.

"Are you okay?" He asked her. She coughed again and gagged a bit before she slumped over. Derek bent forward and snatched her around the waist before she could make contact with the ground. He flinched when her freezing and wet fingers snapped up to grab onto his hands. She leaned her head back into his chest and looked up at him through stringy wet hair and tear filled eyes.

"Th-thank-k yo-ou." She stuttered out, her teeth clicking together as she practically convulsed from the cold. He pulled her closer and hoped that what little body heat he had left helped her out. The leather jacket and pants were soaking wet and freezing, in even more danger of falling off than before now that they were heavy saturated with water. The crow swooped over and landed in front of them. Derek growled at him and pulled Chloe as close to him as he dared.

"Good! Come! Close!" The offensive bird squawked at them. Derek snorted and held Chloe up while she got her footing before releasing her, but keeping her close nonetheless.

"Right. How about not?" He snapped at the bird. The crow shot up into the air and squawked loudly.

"No! Come! Close!"

"Shut _up_!" Derek yelled at him. "Why the hell should we…" he trailed off as more than one familiar scent tickled his nose. He froze and turned his head in the direction they were coming from, inhaling deeply and closing his eyes.

_Simon!_

His eyes snapped back open and he began to jog off in the direction of the scent. Chloe yelled for him and the wolf snapped at him to stop. Derek complied, slowing to a stop and turning to look back at her stumbling up after him. She when she was next to him, she looked up into his eyes.

"What's up?" She questioned.

"I caught Simon's scent." He mumbled looking away from her and scanning the trees. He was there. Derek could smell him, plain as day. The breezed kicked up a few more scents and Derek drank them in eagerly. Tori, Andrew, and Lillian. "Andrew, Tori, and Lillian are with him." Chloe had brightened up at the mention of Simon and now she was positively glowing.

"Are you sure? We found them?" She said, looking between him and the tree line quickly.

"I think so." He answered. A whistle broke through the air at the same time the crow swooped over top of them, heading for its source. Derek knew that whistle. He smiled and turned to Chloe, nodding, before he stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled back. Chloe smiled. "Let's go." He said and began to jog for the trees. Chloe ran next to him and when they got closer, Simon stepped out of the shadows and waved.

"There you guys are." He said grinning like a maniac when they stopped in front of him. Derek felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of his chest and it was easier to breathe again. His eyes quickly adjusted to the sudden loss of sunlight and he could see Andrew sitting by a tree with Lillian, who still had yet to become conscious, in his lap. Tori was off to the side a ways leaning against a different tree with her arms crossed in front of her chest. As far as Derek could tell, the worst of the injuries were a couple of bruises and scrapes.

"How long have you guys been here?" Derek asked, looking back down at Simon. He blinked and frowned in thought.

"Not too long. Andrew's been here for a while, but Tori and I found him when we almost fell in the river." Simon looked them up and down before snickering. "Looks like you were the one to fall in the river." Derek snorted.

"Yeah, well, our guide was faulty. He pretty much pushed us in." He explained with a venomous tone to his voice. Simon laughed and cocked an eyebrow.

"You had a guide?" He asked.

"Hardly. All he did was fly in front of us, laugh, and push us into a river." Derek grumbled, looking around for the crow, when he noticed that Chloe wasn't standing next to him anymore. He spotted her bent at the waist in front of Andrew and looking down at Lillian worriedly while Andrew explained what happened to them.

"I… have no idea what you're talking about. Where's your clothes by the way?" Simon asked again, gesturing to the leather jacket. Derek rolled his eyes.

"Later." He promised. Simon nodded, smiling again, before he walked away. Derek allowed a small frown to reach his face. Something was off about Simon. Something wasn't quite right…

There was a loud caw from above and Derek jerked his head up to see the crow pretty much shooting his self at him like a missile. The wolf growled and Derek swore, as he tried to step out of the way but the bird followed, herding him. A hissing sound was heard and a slinky black cat bounded off of Derek's back and latched itself onto the bird's wing. Derek flinched when the cat dug its claws into his back to get leverage but then he watched the scene unfold.

He realized that he _knew_ that cat. It was Lust. She was hissing and clawing feathers out of the bird furiously as the crow spiraled to the ground with a few frantic calls. Chloe ran over to the spectacle and watched, not really sure what to do. As soon as the pair hit the ground an explosion of sorts occurred and smoke obscured any vision of the two that Derek had.

The smoke cleared and there stood Lust, crouched over with her fingers curled into claws, flashing off her long fingernails dangerously, and a tall man with dark black hair and a twitchy disposition. Chloe gaped at the sight and stumbled back. The man saw this and turned to lunge at her. Lust yowled and intercepted him, leaping on top of him and slashing her nails across his face.

"Derek!" She called desperately as she struggled to keep the man under her. "Get away! It's a trap!" Derek, of course, stood there, not really registering what she said until he noticed that Simon, Tori, Andrew, and Lillian were somehow wrong. He knew then. They were trapped in a spell. The wolf howled in anger.

"Shit!" Derek spat out as he ran around the fighting pair and grabbed onto Chloe, pulling her into the forest at a fast run. He heard the hounds again, barking and chasing them. There was snapping of twigs all around them and Derek knew that they were surrounded by enemies. Part of him wanted to stand and fight. The other half knew that Chloe wouldn't stand a chance and that he had to get her somewhere safe.

Chloe was having a hard time keeping up with him, but he didn't let go of her arm, desperate to keep her moving. The wolf was urging him on, telling him that if he stopped, there was no hope at all. Then the blond witch from before stepped in front of his path and he growled as he pushed Chloe into the nearest bush.

"Pity you found out about my crow. He was doing so well, too. Well, goodnight!" She said in a lilting tone before she raised her hands up and he felt like he was being electrocuted. The wolf whined and he grunted as he slipped to the ground and blacked out to the sounds of Chloe's screams.

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**I know, I know! It's short! I'm sorry!!**

**But I got pie this weekend!! I was good!**

**Review please!**


	15. Captivity is Much like the Zoo

**Hi again! I'm back with more! Enjoy and thank you for the reviews!**

**Disclaimer: Travis the lawyer: -patting Kayka-chan on the back-**

**Kayka-chan: You won't run away right? -dramatically wipes fake tear off face-**

**Travis the lawyer: -sigh- Right.**

**Kayka-chan: Even though I don't own Darkest Powers?**

**Travis the lawyer: Yep.**

**Kayka-chan: Good. Because I'm pregnant. And you're the father.**

**Travis the lawyer: WHAT THE HELL?!**

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_Foolish_

Chapter Fifteen

----XX----

_Only the dead_

_Have seen the end of the war_

----XX----

_Holy _crap, _my head feels like it's going to explode…_

Chloe winced and brought her hand up to her forehead, catching some stray pieces of hair in the process. She hesitantly cracked her eyes open and found that she was, quite obviously, in captivity. It was not as plush as it had been the first time she had been caught. The room she was in no longer resembled a hotel room, but a sterile hospital room, with everything that annoyingly brilliant white, and there was no furniture.

As she got a better handle on her bearings, she noticed that she was _not_ alone. There were, in fact, three other people in the room with her. One did not look familiar to her at all and was leaning half through a wall, so Chloe assumed she was a ghost. The second one was such a familiar face that Chloe almost believed she was dreaming.

"A-aunt Lauren?" She whispered, stumbling to her feet quickly and rushing over to kneel next to the prone figure of her aunt. She was not concious, but whether she was sleeping or knocked out, Chloe didn't know. She was breathing and that's all that mattered. Chloe crushed her aunt to her in a sort of half-assed hug. When she released her, she took the chance to look her over.

There were bruises all over Aunt Lauren's face. She had a dry trail of blood that led from the corner of her mouth down to her chin and her wrist was obviously broken. She looked as if she hadn't been fed in a while. She looked _broken_.

Chloe felt tears pricking her eyes at the sight of her aunt being in such a pathetic state, all with the knowledge that this was completely and entirely _her_ fault, but she furiously wiped at her eyes and shook herself thinking that she couldn't start crying because she would never be able to stop and because it wouldn't help the situation at all.

There was a groan from behind her and Chloe whirled around, remembering that there was one more person in the room with her. The man looked like he had to be at least in his forties; his age given away by the flecks of gray in his black hair, and his fancy, but wrinkled, suit informed Chloe that he had not expected to be taken captive. He was supporting himself on his hands and knees, facing away from her, and shaking his head in a way that said Chloe wasn't the only one with a killer headache.

He brought himself up and knelt there, looking around. He turned to look at her and Chloe felt like there was something familiar about this man. He squinted at her through almond shaped eyes and Chloe gasped. She slowly inched towards the man and he watched her warily. She quickly leaned in and poked his arm, just to make sure he was not a ghost.

He was totally solid.

Chloe sighed and looked back up at him. He was watching her with an amused expression on his face.

"You must be the Saunders girl. Can I help you?" He asked politely. Chloe gently nibbled on her bottom lip thoughtfully.

"Are you Simon and Derek's dad?" She asked quietly, not sure if they were being watched. The man blinked before grabbing onto the upper halves of her arms. Chloe winced at the pressure on her scratch. His eyes were hopeful if not a little bit desperate.

"You know my sons? Are they safe?"

----XX----

Derek was _not_ happy.

He growled out loud as he moved his hands around in their chained state. They had chained him to a wall. Like an animal. Two handcuffs around his wrists and one around his neck. He wasn't the only one not impressed with the accommodations. The wolf was practically beside himself with rage at being cooped up like this. He gave another hard tug on the chains. They groaned but didn't budge an inch. He relaxed, growling again in displeasure.

Derek had woken up like this; chained to a wall in the middle of a hospital sort of room that had no furniture in it aside from a large mirror on the far right wall and feeling like he had just been run over by an angry herd of llamas. No one else was in the room with him but he knew that he was being watched at all times. And, quite honestly?

It pissed him off.

He the only other time he had been angrier was when Chloe had disobeyed him and run off. He was definitely not that angry but it was a close running second. What was worse was that he knew exactly where he was. Back in the lab. The only question was why they hadn't just killed him yet. It sure as hell would have been easier for them to just snuff him out while he was cataleptic.

Derek sniffed the air, not catching any scent besides his own. He couldn't help the twinge of worry that blossomed alive in his chest as he thought about Andrew, Simon, and Chloe. Tori even! He had to know if they were alive; if they were okay.

He grumbled to himself as he dropped uncomfortably to the ground, the chains forcing his hands to stay up where they were, but the neck one being long enough so that he could sit down. He leaned his head back against the wall and tried to calm down enough to find a logical way out of this mess.

Derek was almost near zen-mode when there was a rattling noise and his door slid open noisily. Two men in black suits rushed in first, coming straight for him, their body language saying that they were about to attack him. Derek stood and growled defiantly. One shied off while the other one took out a rod looking thing and smashed it into Derek's neck right under his jaw.

He made a choking noise at the highly uncomfortable pressure. The man who wasn't holding him down turned around and called that it was safe to come in. The blond witch from before moseyed her way in and smirked at him. Derek froze when he saw her, his every muscle throughout his body stiffening. His anger reared up and he snarled at her and struggled. The man scowled and pressed the pole harder into his throat. Derek hacked and stopped. The man sneered triumphantly.

"It's okay, ma'am. The beast won't get you." He called, sounding tragically heroic. Derek rolled his eyes. The man saw and reapplied a little bit of the pressure to the rod, his lip curling to a cheap imitation of a snarl to show off his dull human teeth. The wolf longed to have Derek bare his unusually sharp teeth and show him something _really_ threatening, but Derek wasn't that stupid.

"Thank you, Rob. I'm sure I can handle him, though." The blond witch informed him, batting her eyelashes. Rob smiled goofily and removed the pole from Derek's neck, stepping back with his partner to let the witch forward. Derek cleared his throat and glared up at her through his hair. She giggled. "Goodness. You _are_ a werewolf. Only they can instill fear into beings just with a glare." The witch tossed her hair back and propped a hand on her hip. "I'm Mickey. Tori's aunt, former hit-man, so to speak, of the Cabals, and, for the time being," She leaned forward and her eyes glinted dangerously, "You worst nightmare."

Derek couldn't help it; he chuckled. Well, it was more of a snort, but its meaning got across and everyone in the room suddenly reeked of anger or incredulity. He had to say that if he was thinking straight, he would never have done that. Ever.

However; lack of water, being chained up, with a side of intense anger had rendered him nearly animalistic. Or stupid, if we're looking for a more specific term.

"You think that's _funny_?" Mickey hissed at him through narrowed eyes. Derek snorted again.

"You sounded like someone out of a cheap movie." He informed her. She made an appalled noise and back-handed him across the face. It rang out through the room and Derek let his head snap to the side. She grabbed a handful of his hair in her hand and yanked on it, pulling it so that he was forced to kneel and look up at her.

"Know this;" she spat at him, "the only reason you're still alive is because they need a sample of your DNA so that they can try to replicate it for later test subjects and the scientists prefer if it's fresh. If I kill you, the DNA won't be as good, but they still can use it. Keep that in mind. Plus," she added, roughly relinquishing her hold on his hair, "I'm allowed to do whatever I so choose to you until they're ready to cultivate your DNA. I know exactly what I'm going to do." Mickey took a few steps back and posed her hands in front of herself. She eyed him distastefully. "You don't look like a screamer, but, then again," her finger tips sparked with electricity, "They never do."

She hit him with the same shock that she got him with initially. Thus began Derek's torture session.

She would shock him and keep it on him until she saw fit, but before he passed out, before releasing it. When she grew disappointed that he wasn't showing reaction to it she went to a binding spell that was so strong it froze his lungs.

Derek's human side couldn't take half of it and there were times when it would just have been nice to pass out. The wolf was too prideful to go down without a fight. So Derek let the wolf take over. When he felt a cry rising up at the pain, he would bite his tongue and refuse to yell. He didn't let one sound escape his tightly clenched jaw, didn't let one muscle move unless they spasmed involuntarily from something that she was doing.

He didn't scream once.

----XX----

"… And then I woke up here." Chloe finished explaining. Kit was sitting against the wall and nodding with a far-off look in his eye. He had been relieved when she had told him that, as far as she knew, his sons were okay. They both had no idea what happened to the two after they had been captured so Chloe had asked the ghost, Amber apparently, to go and check. She had gone and while she was looking around Simon's dad had asked her to fill him in on what had happened.

Amber still had yet to come back and Chloe was a little curious why. She didn't dare call for her though, because she didn't want the demi-demon to know she was back. But, she probably already did.

"Has Amber come back yet?" Kit asked courteously. Chloe jumped a little and Kit smiled. Chloe blushed and shook her head. "You're jumpy." He told her. Chloe sputtered a laugh at how familiar that sounded. He frowned in confusion and cocked his head to the side. Chloe smiled and waved her hand dismissively.

"Simon said almost the same exact thing." She explained, looking over at Aunt Lauren. She hadn't moved since Chloe had arrived. Chloe's smile left her face as she reached over and moved a strand of hair off of her aunt's face. She still got that painful lump in the back of her throat every time she looked at her relative. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kit shift around awkwardly before he cleared his throat. Chloe looked at him.

"She'll be fine." He assured her, forcing a smile. Chloe didn't really have anything left to do besides grasp onto what he had said and to believe it with all of her might. She really did hope that her Aunt would be okay. Chloe nibbled on her bottom lip again and wondered if she would end up like her aunt too.

"Why are they even keeping us like this? They tried to kill us a week ago, now suddenly we're prisoners? This doesn't make any sense!" Chloe demanded of her cell partner, somewhat desperately. She wanted him to say that they were just going to set them free after a little bit. She wanted him to tell her that they weren't going to die.

He didn't answer. He just flinched and looked away with a pained look in his eyes. Chloe shuddered and looked at the ground. There was a soft noise, and Chloe looked up quickly and saw Amber standing above her. Chloe leapt to her feet. Amber stumbled back a few steps and shuddered when Chloe's hand flashed through her stomach.

"S-s-sorry." Chloe stuttered. Kit looked up at her. Amber smiled and waved it off.

"It's nothing." Amber cleared her throat. "Okay, Simon and Tori are in the same room a few cells down, Andrew is in his own cell across from theirs, Lillian is in the hospital under constant watch, Derek is… well, he's not in such a good shape but he's alive and in a containment cell farther away from here. Rae is with Dr. Davidoff. She looked fine, but a little unhappy."

Chloe knew she should have felt relieved that no one was dead, and she was, for about six seconds, before it was once again replaced with that gut crushing worry. Derek wasn't in good shape? What did that mean?

"What she say?" Kit asked, heaving himself to his feet and looking between Chloe and Amber, or the invisible space to him. Chloe ignored him and shook her head, fixing Amber with a distressed look.

"What's wrong with Derek?" Chloe asked, her voice wavering but not stuttering. Amber's gaze shunted to the left.

"Derek? What's she talking about? Chloe?" Kit was staring right at her now.

"Tori's aunt is… well, she pretty much torturing him." Amber said, grimacing from the memory. Chloe gasped.

"T-torture?" She squeaked out. Kit stiffened before he swore angrily and turned on the door, raising his hands and firing spell after spell at it. Chloe jerked back and cowered next to her aunt, watching him. The door just absorbed everything thrown at it and turned brighter. By the time Simon and Derek's dad fell to his knees panting from the exertion, the door was glowing white hot.

Kit cussed again and whirled on Chloe who jumped.

"We need to get out of here!" He hissed.

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**Yep. I'm totally on a roll now!!**

**Review please!!**


	16. Things Could Be Worse

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**I knew him Horatio; A fellow of infinant jest, of a most excellent fancy! He hath borne me on his back a thousand times and now how abhorred in my imagination it is!!**

**Okay, the point of view hops around a little bit in this chapter but I tried to make it as easy to understand as possible! If you are at all confused, just ask me and I'll splain!**

**Disclaimer: Travis the lawyer: -in shock-**

**Kayka-chan: -shocked by his shock-**

**Travis the lawyer: What...how...when...what?**

**Kayka-chan: Remember that time in Vegas?**

**Travis the lawyer: Y-yeah?**

**Kayka-chan: Yeah.**

**Travis the lawyer: -Looks at readers- For lack of better thing to say; She really doesn't own Darkest Powers...**

* * *

_Foolish_

Chapter Sixteen

----XX----

_You can't trust any one...  
Not even your closest friends...  
This world is at war and life will soon end._

----XX----

Chloe watched as Kit paced restlessly in front of the cell door, occasionally sending another spell flying at it. She had been alternating between watching him do that and checking on her aunt, whose condition was, if not changing, than getting worse. Honestly, she was just as desperate to get out as Kit was, but she didn't know what she could do to help. And she really, _really_ had to pee.

Chloe shuddered as she imagined what Derek had to be going through and felt a sharp pain in her chest. She reasoned that there had to be a way out of here. Kit let out a growl of frustration and huffed violently.

"There has to be a way out of here…" Chloe mumbled to herself, feeling smaller and more helpless as by the second. There was a familiar sensation of warm air gusting around her and Chloe jumped, immediately recognizing the sensation. "Go away. I didn't call you." She hissed at the demi-demon, who just laughed.

"Dear, you didn't have to. I've been lurking around, unseen, unheard, and unnoticed since you left. You forgot to put me back, you see." She explained, somewhat jovially. Chloe blinked and sighed. Maybe she could help….

"Do _you_ know another way out of here?" Chloe asked warily, not entirely sure that asking the demi-demon for assistance was such a smart move on her part, but she was running out of ideas and seeing as she was a demon than maybe she could help. The demi-demon giggled daintily.

"Of course I do. It's not as hard as you seem to be making it." Chloe couldn't help the irritation that snaked its way through her veins.

"Would you like to tell me how?" Chloe prompted impatiently.

"If you wish." She answered and then was silent. Chloe waited, and when the answer never came, she snapped, louder than she intended;

"_Well_?"

Kit looked over at her. Chloe grinned sheepishly and waved before holding up a finger telling him to wait. An answering laugh hummed near her ear and Chloe jumped at how close it sounded.

"Think with your body, child." She whispered teasingly, unnaturally warm breath cascading over Chloe's ear. She shuddered at the feeling and looked over in that direction.

"What are you talking about? That doesn't make any sense." Chloe was confused beyond belief now. The demi-demon made a small humming noise of recognition.

"If it made sense, little necromancer, then you would be doing it wrong." Chloe scowled angrily and waved her hands around her head sporadically like she was shooing away bugs.

"Go away or be quiet. You're not being helpful." She grumbled, frustrated that she refused to be of any help. There was a weird feeling on a gust of cold wind blowing against her arm, quick and brief, gone before she really even noticed, and then there was silence. Chloe breathed dejectedly and looked up at Kit who was standing there looking at her. She tried to work up a smile but found she couldn't. "Any luck?" She asked in attempt to distract him. He scowled and turned back towards the door.

"No. It's taking everything I throw at it and getting stronger as a result." He brought his hand up to his face, clearly deep in thought. "I think it's got a barrier where, in order to leave, you have to be invited out…" He trailed off, getting too quiet for Chloe to discern any words out of his mumbling. She sighed and wiggled around; she _really_ had to pee!

She froze, an idea growing in her mind.

_No way, it wouldn't be that easy_, she thought to herself uncertainly. Chloe looked up at Kit who was still mumbling thoughtfully to himself whilst he paced in front of the door/barrier. She once again thought about what Derek had to be going through the longer she just sat here and she shot to her feet, rushing over to the door.

"E-excuse me." She tapped on Kit's arm. He blinked and looked down at her like he completely forgot she was there. Chloe pointed to the door silently and he nodded, moving out of the way. Chloe took in a deep and nervous breath as she knocked carefully on the door. Nothing happened, no one answered the door. Chloe made a disappointed face and began to lower her hand.

"No! Try again." The demi-demon hissed, causing Chloe to jump in surprise and look around. She knocked again. "Louder!" Again, with more force this time. She heard some loud swearing, muffled by the door.

"What do you want?" A gruff man's voice sounded. Chloe swallowed noisily and leaned close to the door, raising her voice to be heard.

"I have to go to the bathroom!" Out of the corner of her eye she could see Kit jerk back in surprise and look at her like she had just grown an extra head out of her back and it had proclaimed its love for fluffy rabbits that tap danced. It was quiet again and Chloe thought that the man had just decided to ignore her.

Then the door opened a crack.

"You get three minutes."

----XX----

Simon had never been so close to strangling someone before in his life, until now. He really wished that someone or something would come and save him from this torture.

"Simon? Are you even _listening_ to me?" Tori squeaked indignantly. Simon groaned and turned to look at her from his position in front of the cell door. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor and looking up at him. Tori had been complaining the whole time. It was like it hadn't even occurred to her to help him.

"Okay, in case you haven't noticed, I'm a little busy. So shut up and help or just shut up." Simon snapped at her. She looked surprised – seriously; surprised! – and she looked away, sticking her bottom lip out in a very immature pout. Simon scowled and turned back to the door, putting his hands up on his hips and leaning his head this way and that, trying to find a way to get out.

He had tried all of the offensive spells that he knew. He was so sure that the knock back spell would work. You know; knocking back the door? Apparently not. It had just deflected it right back at him, sending him flying back and hitting the wall, resulting in a painful lump on the back of his head.

Frustration at not knowing where anyone else was or if they were even still alive was setting his nerves on edge, adding fuel to the fire of disquiet. He knew that Tori was just as uneasy as him, but her way of coping was by bitching nonstop about everything that she could think of. He had tried on multiple occasions to just get her to stand up and _help_ him, because he knew that she was more powerful than he was so if they combined their powers than they could get out of here.

"You should stop. You're just wasting your power." Tori mumbled from behind him. Simon tensed and stilled his tongue from lashing back at her. His shoulders sagged in defeat as he realized that she was right in that never-again-shall-she-be-right sort of way. He shuffled his way over to Tori and leaned his back against the wall next to her, sliding down until he was on his rear. They didn't say anything to each other and an uncomfortable silence blanketed the room heavily. Simon broke it when he sighed loudly.

"Why did they stick me with you? Seriously." He grumbled, crossing his arms and tilting his head back against the wall and staring at the plain white ceiling. Tori snorted in indignation and garbled something along the lines of; 'Oh and you're just _so-o-o_ much fun, too.' Simon couldn't help the smile that twitched slowly upon his face. She would never change. No matter the circumstances, she would never change.

Simon couldn't help but marvel at how different she and Chloe were. Chloe was quieter and less sure of herself; giving without taking and unconditionally kind to those in need. Tori was loud and snappy, talking before thinking ; taking and never giving unless there was something in return for her, kind, also, but in a subtle and less frequent way.

There was a bang on the external side of the door, like a huge weight had been thrown against it. Both Simon and Tori jumped in shock and shot to their feet. Tori was staring at the door with wide eyes and Simon tensed up, waiting to see who was coming in. If they had come to take him or Tori away, he wasn't going to make it easy for them. He inched over; half of his body shielding half of Tori's as there was muffled yelling heard from outside.

The door swung open and Rae leaned in, her hair slightly disheveled and she looked right at them, her eyes lighting up but then becoming dull when she got a better look at them. The three teens stared at each other, neither moving in turn. Silence was once again prominent and seemed to stretch on longer this time. Rae was the one to break it, straightening up and looking at Tori sordidly.

"Oh." She said simply, that one syllable carrying as much anger, venom, and distain as any sentence ever could. Simon relaxed, shifting his weight onto his other leg, trying to get out of the way because he could almost feel Tori bristling.

"'Oh'? Were you expecting someone else?" She snapped haughtily. Rae snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Yes, actually. I was expecting Chloe." She retorted irately. Tori blinked and looked confused for a moment before she shook her head and the anger returned to her face.

"Smooth. Way to just go ahead and get the wrong room. Some rescuer you are." Tori sniffed. Simon raised his finger and opened his mouth, getting ready to tell Tori that Rae had saved them and she should show a little gratitude when he was interrupted by a shrill and scornful laughter of Rae.

"Fine then. I'll just shut the door and leave you to escape on your own, seeing how well you were doing with that."

Simon cleared his throat, but neither of the girls seemed to notice anymore. "Uh, guys?" He said carefully; not exactly keen on getting in the middle of a cat fight.

"Like we would have needed your help!"

"Right, because what you were doing was working so well. I bet you weren't even trying to get out!"

"Guys?" He tried again, a little louder this time, worried that their yelling was attracting the attention of the guards.

"I-well-I-"Tori sputtered. Rae smiled triumphantly, knowing that she was right. Tori saw this and she snarled; "At least I didn't betray any one!" Simon blinked at how off topic they were getting now.

"Guys?" He said, loudly.

"Don't you dare bring that up! Why do you think I was looking for Chloe?"

"_Ha_! A little late for that now!"

"Hey!" Simon hollered, placing his hands on their shoulders and pushing them apart. They glanced over at him before returning to glare at each other. Simon was glad they were being quiet now. "We should go. I know you didn't mean to get us out, Rae, but thank you anyway. If you would let us, it would be nice if we could come with you when you look for Chloe." Rae nodded hesitantly, still glaring daggers at Tori. "And try to get along, okay?" He added as an afterthought.

----XX----

A ragged panting sound was filling the room, and it took Derek a few seconds to realize that the sound was his breathing. He flinched as he raised his head heavily and moved his eyes around the room, taking in the sight of the same two guards standing by the door. Mickey had gotten bored with Derek's lack of empathy and left him with a half-hearted oath that she would be back later. The wolf had welcomed the relief and had promptly passed out.

Derek didn't think that she would be back but it didn't hurt to regain some of his strength. He had snoozed for a little bit, only to be woken up by the guard's chatter and his own breathing. Derek blinked furiously as a bit of his own blood dripped down into his eye. He coughed violently and a few drops of blood splattered the ground.

Derek mused to himself that his substantial loss of blood was probably the reason for his lethargic state. The only reason he was bleeding so much was because she had resorted to physical violence after none of her spells seemed to elicit the appropriate response from him.

Apparently, she had a thing for knives.

Derek coughed again at the scratchy feeling in his throat. The two guards had fallen silent and had tensed up as the first time he had coughed and now he could feel them watching him like hawks. Add that to the people he knew were watching him on the other side of the mirror and you have one very irritated werewolf.

He grumbled quietly to himself and tried to find a comfortable way to position himself. He closed his eyes and tried to get back to sleep when he heard familiar voices. His eyes shot open and he lurched to his feet. The guards shouted in surprise and warning, telling him to sit down again. Derek ignored them and watched the door.

The voices were closer now and his heart leapt happily at the sound of one of them.

He was getting out of here.

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**Wootly! -does a little dance-**

**Review please!**


	17. Not an Alien Duck, but Close

**Hey, it's August!**

**(Yes I did notice that.) Welcome to the chapter, and sorry for the weight. I usually write out all of the chapters in my story before I publish it so that I don't get writers block and stop a story halfway through and, what would you know, Gladas (my computer) desided it would be hilarious to fart out on me. So I fixed her and had to retreve all of my files from my back up and that took a lot longer than I hoped. So, sorry, and here you go!**

**Disclaimer: Travis the Lawyer: No freaking way. No. Freaking. Way.**

**Kayka-chan: There is a freaking way. Trust me.**

**Travis the lawyer: Shut up! This is your fault.**

**Kayka-chan: Well, sorry for being so goddamn sexy! At least I don't act like I have a pole cue shoved up my ass!**

**Travis the lawyer: -Stands up and points at Kayka-chan dramatically- WELL, YOU DON'T OWN DARKEST POWERS!!**

**Kayka-chan: -gasp!-**

**Studio Audience: -Gasp!-**

**Travis the lawyer: Oh... shoot...**

* * *

_Foolish_

----XX----

_Seldom the ghosts come back bearing their tales  
Of hitting the earth, the incompressible sea,  
But stayed up there in the relative wind,  
Shades fading in the mind,_

----XX----

Derek, honestly, had no idea what to expect. At the moment, he would just be happy with an alien duck to blast down the door and start shooting lasers from his eyes, thereby distracting the guards. Perhaps, in the process, breaking the chains so that he could get free. Not that it would ever happen, but, hey, a boy can dream.

He wasn't even one hundred percent sure that it was even them that he was hearing. Part of him figured that he was just hallucinating from the blood loss. He was about to go with that and ignore it; go back to sleep or something, but then the voices got closer and the guards heard it too. They stopped shouting at him to sit back down and they turned towards the door with identical expressions of confusion upon their faces.

"Our shift wasn't supposed to be changed for a while yet." The first guard mumbled. Then the two exchanged glances. "Right?" he added nervously. His partner nodded and the two readied their weapons apprehensively, inching towards the door. Derek took the time to revile in their stupidity. If it was him, he would be backing away from the door, not walking towards it. He did have animalistic senses and a weird sort of instinctual knowing, though, so that probably contributed.

Outside the door, the voices were muffled, but clearly irritated; snapping at each other and arguing somewhat loudly till someone let out a growly sounding noise and then…

Well, then the door exploded.

It was loud and set Derek's ears ringing, waking up the wolf with a yelp of surprise. Dust and debris flew everywhere, getting up his nose and into his eyes. He closed his eyes and jerked his head to the side to avoid any more of it getting in. He could hear the sounds of grunting and when he looked over again he saw Simon standing next to Tori and Rae on his other side. The two magic users had their hands up in a knock back spell and Rae had a ball of flame glowing eerily in her hand.

One of the guards was unconscious and the other one was pretending to be. The wolf sniffed disdainfully at his cowardice and, after checking to make sure that Simon, Tori, and Rae were actually Simon, Tori, and Rae, he curled up and went back to sleep. He made sure to tell Derek to be careful and stop getting hurt, though.

Derek ignored him and stared at his saviors. They stared right back. Simon had a stricken look on his face as he rushed forward to get the chains off as Tori gave Rae a smug look and Rae pretended not to notice by looking around the room and mumbling; "She's not here either…" Derek rolled his eyes and shook his head when Simon got close. Simon froze and looked at him with a confused and somewhat hurt expression.

"He's got the keys." Derek explained, jerking his head over towards the unconscious guy. "Careful, by the way, the other one's faking." The faker stiffened at this and Tori scowled while she walked over and kicked him. He groaned and she scoffed, muttering obscenities while she put him in a binding spell. Simon ran over to the unconscious one and took the keys before running back over and unlocking his brother quickly. He got out of the way as Derek stepped forward, rolling his shoulders and neck to get the kinks out.

"Good to see you, bro." Simon informed him quietly, raising his hand like he was going to slap him on the back but hesitated when he couldn't find a place to slap that didn't look like it hurt. Derek gave a small smile. Simon returned it half-heartedly as he got a better look at Derek's injuries. "What did they do to you?" he asked in a livid voice. Derek shook his head and began to walk towards the doorway, ignoring Rae when she shied away from him.

"Later. We need to go. I was being watched at all times and there's going to be someone coming here any second." He said as he walked through the entrance and looked around for a way out. Simon was right behind him so he turned to look down at him. "Where are Chloe and Andrew?" He asked.

Tori scoffed and Rae sent her an evil look. Simon looked behind himself quickly at them and laughed sheepishly. "We thought she was here." He explained slowly. Derek blinked. Simon's hands shot up quickly. "Whoa, that came out wrong; we wanted to come and get you but Rae only wanted to find Chloe so she threatened to get Dr. Davidoff if we didn't just come along with her."

"It's fine. Come on we have to go." Derek said, stopping him before he got into it. He started to walk down the hallway before he realized;

He had no idea where he was going.

Derek frowned and lifted his face taking in as deep of a breath as he could. He could smell loads of people that he didn't know and he could smell the three that had sprung him. Mickey's scent was here too, but hers was prominently anger and frustration that saturated the air. He could smell Dr. Davidoff a lot, too, like he had been hanging around outside the door but never went in.

Then he caught the very faint smell that he was looking for; Chloe and Andrew. They were far away but Dr. Davidoff had had their smell on him and it had rubbed off a bit. He started to jog, breathing deeply and following the trail. Every time he bounced back onto the floor, his whole body racked with pain, but he grit his teeth and ignored it; focusing on finding them and not running into any of the scientists or guards wandering around. Which, if you were wondering, is not an easy thing to do.

He turned a corner and took a deep breath, intent on his search, when a familiar scent smacked him in the face and he skidded to a halt, his head whirling to the side. Simon smashed into his back and Tori into his. Rae was far enough back that she had enough time to stop before she hit them too. All of their breathing was ragged and labored, but Derek barely noticed.

It was the room. The one he grew up in. The one that had so many different memories, most of them not all that pleasant.

Derek never really thought of himself as a sentimental person, but he had a strong connection to this place. Even if he didn't want to. They hadn't really done much in the cleaning area to the room because it still carried most of the scents that he remembered. All except the blood, of course. They always cleaned that up especially well. He remembered that because the Bleach smell was overwhelming to the werewolves and they would get to play outside the whole day while the room aired.

It was weird. He never thought that he would have to see this room again, and he was glad about it too. But now that he was actually here and looking at it, he couldn't walk away. He knew that he needed to keep moving, to find the others and get the hell out of here, but… he couldn't. He was frozen. Almost as if his feet had suddenly sunk into the floor.

"Derek?" Simon said, looking between Derek and the room. Derek made a humming sort of noise in recognition but didn't stop looking at the room. "What's up?" Simon prompted. Derek swallowed and blinked twice; the first one quick and the second one slow and heavy. He shook his head and once again continued on his quest, at a slower pace this time, hoping that Simon would drop it. "Derek?" His voice wafted up from behind Derek who sighed.

"That's where I grew up. It just took me by surprise is all. Now, quiet, I need to hear." He ordered, half serious. Partially because he did need to hear and partially because he just really didn't want to talk about it. They walked in silence for a while, Derek sniffing and listening cautiously.

"I can't do this." Rae suddenly exclaimed from behind. Derek jumped at the sudden noise and turned half around to regard her. Simon and Tori were doing the same. Tori stepped forward and propped her hands on her hips, one ahead of the other with its knee locked.

"Excuse me?" Tori snapped. Rae scowled and shook her head.

"I can't do this; help you guys. It's wrong and I could get in trouble for this." She said, looking around guiltily like she expected Dr. Davidoff to pop down from the ceiling and accuse her of high treason. Tori let out a raucous laugh.

"Well, you already have so now you're stuck with us, but if you would rather you left, I am totally and completely okay with that. Good bye!" She sneered and waved sarcastically. Rae looked at Tori as if she would love nothing better than to punch her in the face.

"This is all your fault!" Rae accused, pointing at Tori. Tori blinked in surprise and pointed to herself.

"My fault? How is this my fault?" She hissed. Rae didn't actually look like she knew why. Derek was uncomfortable with how loud they were getting and the wolf was waking up with a vengeance. He shook himself out and growled at Derek to get them to shut up and keep the pack moving. Derek agreed but told him to stop calling his friends a pack. The wolf did something that resembled a shoulder shrug before he quieted down and waited.

"We need to keep moving." Derek interrupted. They looked at him. "Rae, if you don't want to come then don't. No one's stopping you." He turned to sniff again and actually caught Chloe's scent, billowing down from above him. He stopped in confusion and made a face.

Above? _What?_

He looked up and saw a ventilation shaft thing that was blowing air out of it. He felt his blood run cold. She wouldn't have. There is _no way_…

Derek's ears picked up a scrambling noise from inside it and he felt a sense of dread set in. He tried to convince himself that the alien duck was back but as he tried, he could smell her and hear her breathing, labored and echo-y in the confines of the shaft.

"Shit." He said and backed up, getting ready to catch her when she fell out, because she would. There is no way that she would fall out of that and he wasn't going to let her get hurt and denying it would do just that. He could feel everyone's gaze on him and he knew that Simon was about to open his mouth and ask the obvious question…

"Derek, what are you doing?" Simon asked. Derek rolled his eyes and sighed, tensing himself up when her scuffles became louder and then there was a crack. The scuffling stopped and she seemed to know what was going to happen. The scuffling renewed, faster now, but it was too late. The shaft broke open and swung down, because it was connected by a hinge. Chloe, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky as to be connected to anything and down she fell, into Derek's waiting arms.

He grunted at the sudden weight that crashed into him and jerked his body down into a squat, but he quickly adjusted his grip until he was sure that he wouldn't drop her. He crouched there; holding her while she was huddled up with her eyes clenched shut and her hands over her head. He looked her over. She didn't have any other injuries on her besides the old ones, a few fresh bruises, and a coating of dust. She peeked one open and looked at him.

"Derek!" She breathed and threw her arms around his neck. Derek gagged at the ferocity of it and toppled back in surprise, sprawling out on the floor with Chloe still stretched out on top of him clinging to his neck and talking at top speed about how relived she was to find him. He was relieved, also, his wolf side yipping happily and doing sort of a happy dance in place. She shifted around and pain shot through him. He grunted. She heard it and quickly let go of him, sitting back in between his spread legs. He sat up on his arms and looked at her, smiling softly at her. She did the same.

"Chloe!" was the synchronized exclamation from the other three as the rushed over and crowded around them. She jumped in surprise and looked around, standing up and backing away so that he could stand up as well.

"Nice catch, bro." Simon said, smiling at him. Derek saw that his eyes weren't as happy as his face seemed to be, almost dull with something that Derek thought was anger but he didn't have time to evaluate before Simon was hugging Chloe excitedly. Derek pretended he didn't notice. Tori and Rae hung back away from the love fest and were scowling at each other still. When Simon let Chloe go, she looked behind Derek to see Tori and Rae.

Her eyes quickly flicked from Tori onto Rae wherein they widened marginally and her mouth hung open.

"Rae?" She squeaked. Rae inhaled deeply before she smiled timidly and gave a half-assed wave. Chloe was still in shock. "What are you doing here?" Chloe continued, her voice reaching such a high octave that only dogs could hear (Derek flinched) and pushed her way around the boys to stand in front of her.

"Oh, you know…" Rae began awkwardly, waving her hand around again. "Hanging out." Chloe giggled and hugged her quickly before letting go and backing up.

"It's good to see you're okay." She whispered. Rae smiled more sure this time and looked like she was going to say something to that, but was interrupted. Sirens went off, loud and annoying, and red lights flashed.

"That's our cue." Simon said as he turned and started to run off.

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**Thanks for your time and reviews!**

**Review please!**


	18. Together for Never

**Guess who's finally been revieved? (Good guess.)**

**I am _so _back! After a month and twelve days, my writers block has been lifted and shot to death by an angry hill billy! I thank all of you for the wonderful comments and I hope you enjoy the long awaited chapter of doom!**

**Disclaimer: Kayka-chan: I want chocolate...**

**Travis the lawyer: Too freaking bad.**

**Kayka-chan: You are so cruel...**

**Travis the lawyer: And _you_ don't own Darkest Powers.**

* * *

_Foolish_

Chapter Eighteen

----XX----

_And at the closing of the Day  
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;  
The broad stream bore her far away,  
The Lady of Shalott. _

----XX----

Derek carefully peeked around yet another corner in the seemingly endless collage of freaking corners. Chloe had filled them in on what had happened to her so far, obviously leaving a select few things out, and he was going to call her out on it until she said that she had found their dad. Then all thoughts and feelings aside from relief and curiosity were wiped from his mind.

When Simon had asked why he wasn't with her, she had explained that she was the only one small enough to fit in the ventilation system and that Dad was going to find Andrew.

"He has Aunt Lauren with him, too." She whispered behind him, wrapping up her long explanation of the past events that had transpired without them. Simon grunted, acknowledging this without actually having to say anything. Derek could sympathize with him, though. It was nice that Chloe found her aunt, but they had finally heard word about their dad and it over weighed it a bit. Tori seemed to be the only one who seemed to want Chloe to elaborate on this statement.

"Your aunt? She's okay, right?" Tori mumbled quietly, trying for unconcerned and coming off as more of a slightly hampered desperate tone. Chloe was quiet before she took in a breath to speak.

"C'mon." Derek interrupted, motioning for them to follow. He had the scent again, having momentarily lost it when they had passed through a smoke cloud—what a smoke cloud was doing in the middle of a scientific facility, none of them wanted to know—and he was wasting no time trying to follow it.

The scent was still fairly fresh. He could smell Dad's scent and the smell that wasn't foreign to him, but not exactly well known and he assumed that it was Chloe's aunt. The wolf had perked himself to attention when he noticed that her scent was laden with blood and the encroaching smell of death. His brow furrowed at this and he subconsciously picked up his pace.

He, honestly, didn't know what to expect. The idea in his head was that everyone would be in perfect shape; untouched and unharmed, if not a little tired and worn down. It was ridiculously farfetched and highly unlikely, but he didn't want to contemplate the worst.

The scent coming off of Chloe's aunt had rudely snapped his mind out of its la-la-land. He now knew that they did not have much time and that everyone was _not_ okay. Derek inhaled deeply and grunted in excitement when he realized that they were practically on top of them.

He motioned with his hand and the group followed him around the corner and smack-dab into Kit and Lauren.

The initial reaction of everyone aside from Lauren and Derek, one of whom was leaning heavily on Kit and looked far too out of it to even understand the situation they were in, was nearly violent and simultaneous.

Derek swung his arm out to stop Simon and Tori from casting knock-back spells and Dad had lifted up the hand that wasn't supporting Chloe's aunt, his lips getting set to move in a spell. Rae had yelped in surprise and snapped her fingers allowing a small lick of flame to burst forth and hover pathetically over her pointer. Chloe yelped in surprise.

Once Dad got a good look at who was there he blinked in surprise and lowered his hand. He opened his mouth but no sound came out. Instead he settled for a familiar grin. Derek felt his chest lighten and he rushed forward quickly, Simon right behind him. Simon wrapped his arms around Dad's middle and laughed happily. Derek settled for checking him for injuries.

Chloe rushed past him also and ran up to her aunt, removing her weight from dad and letting her settle against a wall. Her aunt's confused eyes rounded onto her face and she blinked in confusion. She opened her mouth to say something but it was cut off when she went into a coughing fit and spat blood over the floor. Chloe looked stricken.

"Derek?" He looked down and saw Dad looking up at him worriedly. "What have they done…" he mumbled quietly and his eyes held such a hollow look that Derek wondered if it was worse than he thought it was. "Are you…okay?" He asked, louder this time. Derek nodded and offered a small smile.

Dad crushed him into a nearly back-breaking hug and let out a relieved breath. The wolf's tail began to wag sideways. Derek hugged him back and reviled in the fact that their dad was okay. Then it was over and they were back in the compound and still in trouble.

"Do you know where Andrew and Lillian are?" Derek asked gruffly. Simon looked at their dad expectantly and he cleared his throat and looked around.

"Well… not yet." He admitted. "I was going to find a place for her to sit safely," He gestured to Chloe's aunt. "While I looked, but then we ran into you guys."

"I know where they are." Chloe chimed from where she sat. All eyes turned to her. She blushed under the attention and cleared her throat. "Amber said that Andrew was in a cell across from Simon and Tori's while Lillian was in the hospital under constant watch." Dad nodded and turned to look at them.

"As much as I don't want to; I think we should probably split up." He raised a hand to cut off the protests from his sons. "Enough. We'll cover more ground that way. Chloe, you should stay with Lauren, and, Derek, you stay with them." He ordered. Derek blinked and the wolf snorted.

"No." Derek said, unconsciously straightening up to look intimidating. Dad's eyes flashed to him.

"No?"

"No." Derek repeated. "I need to come with one of you so that I smell them out. I'll be of no help if I'm sitting here chewing my nails in worry."

"You're hurt—"

"—it's no worse than I've had before." Derek cut him off. His dad hesitated.

"Derek, I don't want you going anywhere." He stated firmly. Derek sighed and felt himself backing off. The wolf grumbled that he wanted to be in on the action. "You need to watch over Chloe and her aunt." Dad murmured so that only Derek could hear. The wolf gave in at that, admitting that _someone _needed to do a good job of watching over his mate. Derek sighed but didn't have the energy to argue anymore.

"Fine, but if you're not back soon enough, I'm coming to find you." He grumbled, turning towards Chloe and her aunt. Behind him, he could almost feel his dad's wry smile as he went to a door, opened it and ushered them in.

"Stay here and stay safe." He said, then closed it and the room was plunged into darkness. Derek listened as his dad split them into two groups and had Rae take him to the hospital wing while Simon and Tori turned back down towards their cell. Their footsteps echoed away in opposite directions and then they were gone.

He could see fairly well, thanks to the light filtering out from the cracks of the door, and could tell this was a sort of janitor's closet. The sort that no one really used, so they would be safe.

Well, as long as no one decided it would be fun to throw up and have the janitor clean it up. Because then they were skrewed.

The closet may have been dark, but it was far from quiet. All of its occupants seemed to need to breathe unnecessarily loudly. Derek cleared his throat and his breath stopped rattling.

"How's your aunt?" He whispered. Chloe jumped and hit her head on the shelf above her so hard that it and all of its contents jumped up.

"Ow…" She rubbed her head before she moved so that she could squint and see her aunt. "I don't know." Chloe sighed finally, slumping back down onto her rear. "She looks like she fell back asleep."

Derek grunted.

"Right…" Chloe trailed off awkwardly.

Which was right; this _was_ awkward. You'd think it wouldn't be, because of how much crap had gone on, but it still was.

"Are you okay?" He asked. She jerked, but didn't jump.

"Y-yeah. They didn't touch me aside from putting me in the cell." She answered.

"So you're not in any pain?"

"None. Thank you." She responded again. "What about you? You're the one who was tortured."

He looked over at her.

"How'd you—?" He asked, racking his brain to see if he could remember ever telling her.

"Amber told me." She explained.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Answer the question." She prompted. Derek rolled his eyes.

"I'm fine." He answered.

"Right." She deadpanned, "No pain whatsoever?"

"…Right."

"Don't lie to me Derek." She snapped. Derek raised an eyebrow at her sudden hostility. "I'm not a little baby you need to coddle and protect from everything. You can tell me if you are in pain!" she insisted quietly. He didn't say anything and started at her. "Derek?" She repeated.

"I'm fine. Really." His deep voice grumbled out. Chloe made a disbelieving noise but didn't push the subject further. She eventually drifted into a restless sleep.

The closet was dark and still far from quiet as Derek sat his silent vigil.

* * *

**I know it was short, but it was the best that I could do at this moment.**

**I hope you enjoyed it and please;**

**Review!**


	19. Awesome Closet of Evil

_

* * *

_**Howdy thar!**

**This chapter is sort of a comic relief/break sort of thing from all the action of what's been going on. I tried to keep it within the rating. If you are in anyway offended or think that it should get bumped up a rating; TELL ME IMMEDIATELY!! I NEED TO KNOW!! Thank you and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Travis the lawyer: Are the natives restless?**

**Kayka-chan: You have no freaking idea.**

**Travis the lawyer: Does it have something to do with the fact you don't own Darkest Powers?**

**Kayka-chan: Wow. Yeah. Just go ahead and bring that up. Asshole.**

**Travis the lawyer: -Looks at readers- She loves me.**

* * *

_Foolish_

Chapter Nineteen

----XX----

_Before you evaporate,  
I feel a gush of your warm breath  
Close upon my lips,  
And a whisper  
In some strange language of love,  
My human senses fail to comprehend._

----XX----

Derek chewed on the inside of his cheek thoughtfully and turned his head to the side as he shoved his foot against the door in a new attempt to assure himself that no one was going to get in unless they knew the freaking password. He had decided he detested this closet with a great intensity and that it was an evil closet.

Off to the side, he could hear Chloe shifting around painfully and grumbling unhappily. He looked over there out of the corner of his eye and saw her lean forward and twist her short hair around her fist a few times before letting it go and leaning back again with a louder sigh and more uncomfortable shifting. Then she let her head fall back against the shelf with a hollow thudding sound.

He snickered quietly to himself at her behavior but couldn't deny that he agreed with her. He was getting antsy and the wolf was complaining loudly about the predicament. In between them, Chloe's aunt had gotten quieter as time had gone on but Derek had made sure that her vital signs were still there and so he had to assume that she was just starting to get better.

"Derek?" Chloe whispered from off to the side. He blinked and brought her into focus. She was turned and looking in his general direction, a thoughtful, if not a little worried, expression on her face. This, in turn, made him slightly apprehensive and checked around to make sure that she had heard or smelt something that he hadn't been paying attention to.

"What?" He asked when he could find nothing. She shifted around a little bit more and rolled her head around to work a crick out of her neck.

"Do you hear them? Or… smell them?" He noticed that she tried not to stumble over the smell portion of the sentence and obviously failed. He turned away from her, a distinct feeling of discomfort and shame burbling up in his stomach.

"No." Derek answered shortly, hoping that she picked up the fact that he didn't want to talk. Her breath caught in her throat at the tone of his voice but she pressed on anyway.

"Um, I have… I want to get this out of the way just in case we… just because. I know this really isn't the place but it's going to drive me completely nuts if I don't get it out." She paused, clearly waiting for him to cut in or put in input and when he didn't she pressed on. "You seem to think that you're not good enough for me or that I didn't enjoy that kiss—"

"Ah, _jeeze_, Chloe." He said, louder than he probably should have, and turned to look at her, exasperated. "You really want to talk about this now?"

"Well, yes. It's just that we might not get a chance to talk about it, because we never know if one of us might… you know… not make it ou— mmph!"

She cut off as Derek clapped his hand over her mouth and hauled her across her aunt and into his lap when he heard people running past and talking loudly and angrily. He couldn't hear much but he knew that they were not friendly. His instincts could tell him that much. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him as his other hand stayed firmly stuck to her mouth.

Her figure was shaking slightly, so slightly that it was almost like she was vibrating. He took his hand off of her mouth and rubbed her arm comfortingly and made a slight shushing sound as he listened intently, keeping his foot firmly pressed against the door.

The closer the footsteps and the voices got the faster his heart seemed to beat as adrenaline rushed unobstructed into his blood and his most basic instincts to protect himself and his "mate" kicked in, the wolf rising to the fore and letting a long and low growl rumbled deeply out from his chest. It was then that he realized that Chloe herself wasn't shaking; she was vibrating _because_ he was growling when she was resting against his chest.

He immediately choked off the rest of the growl and held it in while his wolf side continued to puff himself up and pace restlessly while snarling defiantly.

Chloe let out a worried little sound and tried to crank her head around to look at him. He avoided looking at her so that he couldn't be distracted. The footsteps reached right outside the door and stopped. Even Chloe could hear their voices through the door and instantaneously fell quiet, placing both of her hands over her mouth and staring at the door with wide eyes.

Derek listened carefully to the conversation outside.

"Hey, what's this?"

"Wha—? I don't know? Come on; we have to go!"

"No, wait there's something over there…"

Derek tensed and the first note of a growl leached out before he got it under control again. The crack of light under the door began to cast two shadows of a pair of feet standing in front of it and Derek kept his foot against the door.

The feet stopped and it was quiet for a bit as the shadows suddenly merged into one and then went back to normal and left.

"It's a penny! "

"Dear lord. If we get fired or worse because of you and you oh-so-important-penny, I'll kill you myself."

"Lighten up, they're not gonna do anything to us."

"That's what you think. Marcel is rather close to his breaking point and somewhat unpredictable. He's not happy that they broke out."

"Not happy in general or not happy at us workers?"

"In general but more particularly at us."

"It's his fault they got this strong anyway, what's he want from us?"

"Shut up before he hears you."

"Oh, what, he has supersonic hearing now?"

"No, just… Just quiet. Let's go."

The footsteps ran off, continuing down the hall. Derek tightened his grip around Chloe's waist when she tried to get off, holding her in place. When she looked back in confusion he shook his head and used his free hand to point to his ear to show that he was listening for any followers.

She nodded her understanding and stopped moving.

When no other footsteps sounded Derek relaxed his posture and let go of her. She didn't move. In fact, she scooted backwards so that she was still leaning against his chest even when he was leaning against the wall. He had to admit that, even though it was a very, very pleasant thing that she didn't immediately hop off of him in disgust, now might not exactly be the appropriate time for her to be invoking any feelings that may be evoked by her seat in his lap.

"You can get off now." He supplied awkwardly, thinking that maybe she was waiting for him to give the all clear. She didn't move. "Chloe?" He shifted, trying to get a better look at her face. She looked up at him shyly.

"I know." She sounded somewhat small. Derek waited for her to continue. Her head popped up quickly, narrowly avoiding smashing him on the underside of his chin. Her face was a flaming red. "Would you like me to get off? I can if you want me too, I just—" she cut herself off and once again lowered her face. Her hands fiddled with themselves in her lap and she looked off to the side.

Derek suddenly had the urge. It was partly because, while he may be completely and totally idiotic and blind when it came to this sort of thing, the wolf was not, and the wolf knew exactly what she wanted. So, what the wolf wants, Derek wants. And, right now?

Right now the wolf wanted to kiss the freaking daylights out of Chloe Saunders.

_The adrenaline was still there, and this was clearly her intention to start with, so why not_; was the way the wolf was reasoning. Whereas this might sound completely and totally reasonable to a wild animal; Derek, the human, knew that this was totally and completely inappropriate both in location and timing.

He wasn't going to kiss her again and, most certainly, not here. He was not. That was final. Amen. The End.

Yet, both she and he were leaning in expectantly, her eyes fluttering between his eyes and his lips, before they fluttered closed.

He didn't close his eyes and kept watching her; waiting for her to push him away and tell him that he was being ridiculous. He was giving her plenty of time to back out. He made _sure_ of it. He stopped moving when they were inches apart and so did she, almost as if she knew that he had even though her eyes were closed.

She cracked them open a bit and looked at him, a bit confused. He swallowed heavily and parted his lips again, to ask;

"Are you…?"

"Yes."

He let out a nearly silent groan and gently pressed his lips to hers. He began to move almost instantly and she brought her hands behind his head to pull him closer. His neck stretched, trying to get closer and get more. He ran his hands up her sides and to her back, pushing her to him. She whimpered quietly and tilted her head to the other side. Suddenly, she moved, a tiny movement that had him breaking the kiss and leaning his head back with a _hiss_ of air leaving his lips between clenched teeth.

Apparently, somewhere in the middle of all of this, she had straddled him and that tiny movement had caused a strong electric jolt that was nearly impossible to describe.

"Derek?" She whispered shakily.

He descended back on her lips with renewed vigor, almost desperate for her to make that move again. His hands moved up, down, and around. They made odd noises against the fabric of her shirt but he barely noticed, seeing at she was also making some odd noises that were only egging him on.

So many things were going through his mind but seemingly leading to nowhere.

_Be gentle_, was chief among them.

Then there was a rattle and light flooded into the closet, a light that he could see even through his closed eyelids and they broke apart, albeit reluctantly, a few seconds after it opened.

"Oh. My. _God!_"

He squinted against the bright light and saw Rae standing there with a somewhat comical expression on her face. Behind her was Simon, who looked even more surprised than her, Tori, who was making pretend gagging noises, Dad and Andrew, who both looked somewhat embarrassed and, oddly, proud. Dad had Lillian in his arms, and she was also looking at them. She smiled cheekily, if not weakly, and shot him a thumbs up and a wink.

Chloe was redder than he had ever seen her and she looked like she wanted to crawl into a hole and _die_. Derek was still a little bit high off of all the stuff that had just happened and was having a bit of trouble catching up.

"I—we—not—how?" Chloe was having some trouble making up an excuse for them. Andrew held up a hand and shook his head.

"We need to go." He said as he exchanged wise and knowing looks with Dad before turning to look at Chloe and clear his throat awkwardly. "You, ah, need to, um… get off of him now." He said, choking on something that sounded suspiciously like laughter. Chloe scrambled off with an eep. Derek drew one of his legs up to hide his new found dilemma.

Of two things was he absolutely sure;

One: He would never hear the end of this.

Two: The evil closet _rocked_.

* * *

**How bout it?**

**Was it good?**

**Review please!**


	20. Of Anguish

**Hello!**

**I am sorry this one took so long to come out. I kept trying to get into my account and it wouldn't let me in. I'm in, though, and it's all lookin good! I hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks to all the people who reviewed!**

**Disclaimer: Kayka-chan: Come on out!**

**Travis the Lawyer: No. I look ridiculous.**

**Kayka-chan: Nonsense! You look hilarious.**

**Travis the Lawyer: -groans as he walks out wearing a superhero/lawyer spandex outfit...thing.- Is this even necessary?**

**Kayka-chan: Yes.**

**Travis the Lawyer: -glares- No it's not.**

**Kayka-chan: Shut up, it was in your contract.**

**Travis the Lawyer: -sighs and tries to hide his spandex-clad body behind the cape- She doesn't own Darkest Powers...**

* * *

_Foolish_

Chapter Twenty

----XX----

_Silently and imperceptibly,_

_as we wake or sleep,_

_we grow strong or we grow weak,_

_and at last some crisis shows us_

_what we have become_

----XX----

"No one's there." Derek whispered carefully as he looked around the corner and sniffed carefully, taking in all of his surroundings to make sure that he was one hundred percent correct and his family and friends wouldn't run into a large group of pissed of scientists on his word of safety. When he was sure he turned and looked back at them, nodding.

They all filed past him and continued down the hall. Dad was supporting Lillian who was, now just limping around, and was the last one to walk by due to the reduced pace of her hobbling. Derek followed closely behind and kept looking back at the slightest noise. He was wound tightly and so far strung out that he was fairly vibrating from the tension in his limbs.

"When we get out, we need to find a hotel and then we're going to call the police." Andrew explained to the others as he hefted Chloe's aunt up again from her slipping position in his arms. "We can't give them too much; I'll probably just go with the anonymous tip thing." Rae gave a wry sort of smile. She had taken a shine to Andrew and they had continuously chatted, against Derek's warnings, and found that they had a couple of things in common.

Like threatening to give away their position to _everyone in the fucking building_!

"Guys!" Derek hissed at them through his teeth. They both turned to look at him guiltily. He stuck his finger up to his mouth and scowled. "Shh!" Andrew grimaced at being told to do this by a boy that was over a good ten years younger than him Rae just rolled her eyes, but fell silent. His eyes flicked in Chloe's direction and saw that she was also looking over at him. When their eyes met she blushed furiously and turned away.

Derek couldn't help the silly grin that threatened to break out on his face. There was just something rather refreshing about a girl that liked you that could even make their situation look happy and wonderful.

Not like they had been spending any more time together. Not only was Chloe far too embarrassed about the situation they had been found in, but she was sticking close to her aunt, especially since she had lost consciousness again. Her breathing was rattling in her throat and the scent of death was starting to creep back into her scent. Derek feared that if they didn't get her out of here soon, she was going to die.

Simon slowed down his pace and came up beside Derek, who looked down at him expectantly. He didn't say anything and stayed scowling off into space. Derek didn't press him to talk because he was somewhat afraid as to what exactly his brother would say to him. He had known that Simon was interested in Chloe and was a little worried at how he would take this.

Though, he was hoping that Simon would be happy for him. After all, he was the one who got most of the girls and Derek had had absolutely none. However, Simon's attitude had said that he wasn't necessarily as pleased about this development as Derek was. He'd actually been spending most of his time since the closet incident walking next to Tori and avoiding any form of contact with both Chloe and Derek. So this new development was good.

Maybe.

Hopefully…

Derek cleared his throat but didn't say anything, hoping that the sudden noise of it would alert Simon that he was just standing there. All it did was cause Simon's scowl to deepen. The wolf made a snuffing noise at Simon's childish behavior and stood up before turning around and curling back up again.

Derek rolled his eyes and flicked his head so that his hair would move out of his eyes. He took a whiff of the air while he was at it and noticed that there was the scent of someone near. He squinted his eyes angrily and ignored the challenging snarl of the wolf.

"Guys." He muttered quietly, but loud enough so that everyone could hear. The company stopped and looked at him curiously. He made a gesture with his head for them to come back behind him. While they did that, he sniffed again, trying to pin point exactly where the scent was coming from. He realized that it was actually Mickey and he stiffened.

It was an unwanted and automatic reaction to her threat. He shook it off and sniffed again.

She had a few people with her and they were moving around, clearly looking for them. He cocked his head to the side and listened for her. She was in the hallway ahead of them and seemed to be intent on continuing right on down it. He turned to the other and held up his finger to his lips for silence.

Dad, Andrew, and Lillian nodded their understanding while the remaining members of the group shrunk back farther into the hallway they were hiding in. The voices drew closer and turned from distant mumbles to intelligible words. Mickey's heels clicked on the linoleum floor as she walked by at a brisk pace, lecturing the nearest person.

"… It's ridiculous! They are _children_ for God's sake, man! How could they get away from you?" She was saying loudly, but not shouting. Derek moved back into the shadows a bit farther and his wounds started to hurt worse. He found himself praying that she would walk by faster. Behind him Rae sniffed. His eyebrows crinkled at the sound and he tensed. She wouldn't… That kind of thing only happens in movies…

Rae sneezed.

And, to make things worse, she tried to stifle it, which only made it louder. So it sounded like a dying animal or an elephant trumpeting. Instantly, Mickey stopped yell/talking and stilled her movement.

"Did you hear that?" She asked, her voice seeming to echo. Rae was making apologetic motions with her hands and looking horrified. Dad began to make motions with his hand that they should slowly start backing up and go around her. Mickey kept talking.

"Sounded like a brat." She hissed with something akin to delight. Derek mumbled out a cuss word and shooed them back faster. Mickey's heels clicked on the tile as she came closer to the sound. Derek kept backing up, but added speed to his now, mindful not to run into anyone. Mickey's hand appeared on the corner. Derek moved faster.

Mickey's head popped around the corner sporting an evil grin.

Derek shouted; "Run!" at the same time Mickey shouted; "Fire at will!"

And all hell broke loose.

Men and women all dressed in expensive looking clothing, a few wearing lab coats that identified them as scientists, and some sporting heavy artillery, skidded around the corner and began to fire off randomly; some spells some bullets. Mickey chose him out of the crowd and her vile grin grew wider.

Behind him someone screamed and someone swore. The wolf howled angrily and beat against his restraints. Derek snarled out loud, causing his father, who was standing next to him with a shield spell up, to look over at him in a mixture of fear and surprise. Derek ignored him and concentrated on the witch facing him. Mickey opened her mouth to say her spell and Derek shot forward, not letting her get the words out.

His hand was outstretched, instinct telling him to go for her throat, but his sense of right and wrong telling him that he couldn't kill her. He moved his hand down and slammed the heel of his hand into her collar bone with all the strength behind his charge. He felt her bone shatter—not break, _shatter_—under his hand and her eyes widened in surprise while her mouth dropped open and she screeched in pain.

Out of the corner of his eye he could see her hand swinging up, nails outstretched in a desperate attempt to either get a good hold on him so she could cast, or in an equally distressed attempt to get him off of her. Derek maneuvered his feet and bunched his muscles, shooting backwards out of the way of her hand. He skittered backwards a few feet and watched as Mickey dropped to the ground with a sob of pain.

She glared up at him with hate and tear filled eyes. "You will _die_." She growled at him through clenched teeth. Derek scowled and the wolf growled in anger. He stood up, coming out of his crouched position and glared at her again.

"Not yet." He informed her grimly. She sputtered before she slumped sideways, passing out from her pain. Derek turned to look for any casualties in the group. His ears were ringing from all gun fire and he couldn't smell anything over the smoke so he couldn't rely on them to tell them anything useful.

Andrew had set down Chloe's aunt and joined Tori, Simon, Rae, and Dad in firing whatever they had in their inventory at the enemy. Chloe and Lillian were huddled over behind Chloe's aunt. Chloe had her hands over her head and her head between her legs. Lillian had her hand on Chloe's back and was clearly pushing her down into the position, while she, herself, was flinching at every new shot.

Rae suddenly bent over at the waist and Simon and Tori looked over at her quickly and with panic. Until she shot back up again and began to—literally—shoot fire from her finger. It was thin and flexible like a rope but it flickered and writhed like the fire it was made out of as she snapped it here and there like a whip; knocking weapons from hands and leaving burns on appendages.

Once they were sure that Rae was alright, Simon and Tori renewed their attack with the only two spells they knew well enough to use. Simon would knock back three or four people and Tori was alternating between freezing people so that they couldn't get away from Rae's whip, and knocking down opponents also.

The sight to see, however, was Dad and Andrew. The two senior wizards were flinging spell after spell at the line of fire. Dad hollered something in, what sounded like Greek, and suddenly there was a flash of light that left everyone on the receiving end unable to see, whom Andrew then got with whatever he felt like.

He had always known that his Dad was a wizard; he just hadn't thought that he was this… _strong_.

During his appreciation of his father's power, a bullet whizzed past his ear, leaving it ringing and Derek jerking around to look at the offender. She was scowling furiously at him and she fired off a quick sequence of three more shots. Derek moved off to the side to avoid them and used his momentum to head in her direction.

The woman let two more shots fly and Derek dropped down, sliding across the floor covering and taking out her legs in the process. She fell down with a yelp of surprise and her gun flew from her hand and smacked on top of the head of a different person who looked around in confusion, rubbing the top of his head. Seconds later, he was bound in a spell and Derek measured his strength and punched him in the jaw. He crumpled to the ground under his own weight.

Derek looked over and smiled at Simon who shot him a thumbs up. The spell casters of his group were looking tired and dizzy and Derek was frightened what would happen when they hit their wall. They were all seriously outnumbered and without spell power it would only leave Rae, Derek and Chloe. Rae and he were only so good and even they would tire eventually. Chloe wasn't really good at fighting and it frightened him to think that she could get hurt.

Yes, they were most assuredly skrewed if the spell casters tuckered out before a reprieve of any kind came.

Derek's face set into a grim scowl and he turned back to start attacking again. He fought as hard as he was allowed without hurting anyone too bad and that alone was painful enough; the work it took to hold back his strength. So, instead, he opted for the speed approach.

He built up a speed that set him constantly moving and used the carriage of the movement to have the strength for him, and it was nearly three times as efficient. He flicked and slid around the group of people, incapacitating anyone who happened to be in his way.

Suddenly, from behind him, came a wail of pure sorrow and pain; it was high and loud, almost the sound of a wounded animal, and it made the hairs on his body stand up and it grated on his ears. The wolf pressed his ears to his skull and whined, tucking its tail between its legs and shaking its head back and forth repeatedly.

The gun fire ceased and everyone was looking around in confusion as to where the sound was coming from. It stopped abruptly and was replaced by wild sobbing and cries of disbelief.

They turned and saw that it was Chloe.

She was sprawled over her aunt who was now lying sideways and was bleeding from an unknown wound. It spread across the floor in intricate lines and patterns, falling into the grooves of the tile's grout and inching its way onward. Chloe's hands, bottoms of her arms, and a bit of her face was covered in her aunt's blood as she sobbed and shook her aunt, frantically calling for her. Lillian had a hand balled into the collar of Chloe's shirt, clearly trying to wrench her back into the hallway and away from her aunt. Chloe fought against her grip and with one good tug, her shirt was out of Lillian's grip.

She whimpered and her sobs were cut off as she suddenly breathed shakily and swallowed. Then she stiffened and tilted her head to the side as if she were listening to something. Lillian looked to where Chloe was looking and scowled in fear and anger, promptly telling Chloe "Not to listen to her." Chloe's face was neutral for a few moments until it suddenly crumpled in pain and she snapped her gaze onto the enemies.

"This… this is your fault…" She hissed at them over a voice that was tired and scratchy. Her eyes lit up with a crazed sort of light as she stood up suddenly and pointed at them. Lillian was down at the ground and she was trying, frantically, to get Chloe's attention. Chloe ignored her. "This is your fault!" She screeched at them.

Derek took a step back and blinked. Around him everyone was mumbling uncomfortably and looking around. Derek had seen what happens when Tori lost control, he'd seen what happened when Liz lost control, he couldn't forget what happened when he lost control, and now he was getting to see the raw power of Chloe when she herself lost all control of her power.

There was an odd sensation in the air as if it had suddenly warmed up fifteen degrees and the scent of something like wildflowers came to Derek's nose. To the left of Chloe, a whirling sort of gap in the air appeared, sort of like a science fiction take on a black hole only it was orange. It whirled faster and faster until there was a sort of explosion of light and sound.

Derek turned his head away to shield his face and when he turned back to look at her Chloe was standing there with an odd sort of woman. She was tall and didn't seem to actually have a physical being. She shimmered and moved at all times and her eyes were slitted like a cat's. Her eyes roamed over everyone in attendance and she smiled in pure delight. Chloe was breathing heavily and she still looked somewhat crazed.

"I'll make you pay." She said and then looked over at the woman and gave a small jerk of her head. The woman looked positively euphoric as she drove towards the people and began to tear them apart.

* * *

**Alright... ****I know what you're thinking.**

**"Chloe was really out of character there, Kayka-chan! How dare you!"**

**I know she was a little dramatic, but think about it this way; ****The only mother figure that she's had in her life since the death of her actual mother was just shot and perhaps dead, which means she's just lost yet _another_ mother figure that she loves dearly, who didn't actually have to get shot because she was subjected to a psycho experiment and a demon was whispering in her ear that she could make things better. I don't know about you, but I'd do the same thing she did.**

**Another thing;**

**Who thinks Aunt Lauren should be dead? ****I have a possible ending for both scenarios, but I want input.**

**Review please!**


	21. Color of Blood

**Hey, I'm back!**

**Alright, first things first; I want to thank my new Beta for correcting the chapter for me. I am very happy and extremely giggly about this development.**

**Second thing; I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and have a happy New Year (I know I will ;D)!**

**Disclaimer: Travis the SuperLawyer: I hate Spandex.**

**Kayka-chan: -laughing too hard to form coherent sentence-**

**Travis the SuperLawyer: I hate you, too.**

**Kayka-chan: -flips him off while continuing to laugh-**

**Travis the SuperLawyer: -Sigh- She doesn't own it. Though, she is excited to read the sneak peaks coming out soon.**

* * *

_Foolish_

Chapter Twenty-One

----XX----

_Run my small child__  
__Through the bloody fields, __  
__Weave around the dead bodies, __  
__But never slow down_

----XX----

She couldn't think.

She could barely comprehend anything.

The pounding of blood in her head was the only thing that let her know she wasn't dead.

The screams of pure terror in her ears were the only sounds that let her know she hadn't gone deaf to the world.

Her eyes followed the demi-demon around the room as she slashed her claws at people; not killing, as Chloe ordered, but simply inflicting terrorizing fear onto the minds of those… those… _murders_! Those _scum_!

_How dare they! _Did they have any idea what they had just done? Did they even have any _remorse_ for what they had just done?

Aunt Lauren wasn't her mother, she knew that, but she was the closest thing that she had and now, she was _gone_.

_Gone_…

She felt a sob burst from her chest again and her legs shook and collapsed underneath her. She slumped to the ground and buried her face in her hands. When she sniffled she realized that something smelt… different. She furrowed her brow in confusion and looked down at her hands. They were covered in blood.

Or, more accurately, her aunt's blood.

Chloe let out a yelp and began to shake her hands around like she thought that they would somehow be cleaned that way. She began to cry harder, frustrated beyond belief. She vaguely heard people calling her name but she shook her head and ignored them focusing only on her aunt.

Above her head, a chunk of plaster erupted into tiny pieces that rained down on her head. Chloe screamed in surprise and ducked down. She looked around and saw a young man staring at her with terrified eyes; holding a gun that he was unable to hold steady in his badly shaking hands. When he saw that she had zeroed in on him he yelped, dropped his gun, and turned to run.

The demi-demon, however, had noticed this slight transgression and quickly swooped down on him, attacking him in a suitably dramatic fashion. Crimson sprayed from him in a wild arc, landing in splatters. Chloe stared at it before she was suddenly overwhelmed by the strangest feeling.

She felt exhausted. Her head was still pounding, but it wasn't from the thrum of power or adrenaline anymore; now it was painful. She closed her eyes and shook her head back and forth to clear it. When she opened her eyes the light suddenly seem like ice-picks gouging into her eyes and everything looked like it was in grayscale. Everything except for the demi-demon, who seemed to glow more powerfully the weaker Chloe felt.

She stared, understanding what was happening. She was using her power to keep the demon from disappearing again and it was wearing her down.

The world blurred. Chloe shook her head again and opened her eyes.

Multiple people shouted for her.

She lugged her head over in the direction of the sound and she saw Simon and Rae fighting to get close to her in the panic. Derek was looking over his shoulder at her before he whipped around, stopped a large man from getting to her with his large shotgun. Tori was in a similar state but she was practically clawing the face off of her opponent. The two elder men were nowhere to be found.

She looked at them and suddenly felt sad.

Because they never should have been involved in this. None of them should have.

Chloe looked at them as they blurred again. She blinked hard and swayed. They seemed to notice her state and looked even more desperate to get to her. Derek scowled and clocked the guy a good one up the side of his head before turning to get to her also.

Andrew and Kit came running out and stopped them from getting any closer. She couldn't hear what was being said, but some very unpleasant things were obviously exchanged between Derek, Simon, Rae and Andrew. Kit just looked over at her with a grim determination, his mouth set in a firm, unhappy line. She sighed.

Her legs were wobbly but that didn't stop her from pushing herself up again. Her knees shook and the ground was tilting this way and that, but she held herself up and looked right at her friends. They had all stopped moving the moment she had begun to stand and were now watching her warily. She stared at them each in turn before she smiled.

She didn't feel happy and her smile must have looked as haunted and tired as she felt because they all looked suitably disturbed and frightened. Chloe ignored them and turned her gaze onto the demi-demon, glaring with as much force as she could manage.

Oh, she wanted them to suffer. She really, really did.

But it wasn't right. She knew that now that she was thinking clearly enough. She had to stop the demon, to make her invisible and harmless again.

She focused on the demon, not an easy thing to do seeing as she couldn't really focus very well and because the demon wouldn't hold still, but when she did, she began to draw her power back away from her. The demon obviously noticed what she was doing and quickly turned her disbelieving and betrayed eyes onto the necromancer.

"What are… _what are you doing_?" She screeched in an otherworldly voice before bolting at Chloe. Her claws were inches—_inches_—away from Chloe's nose when she yanked all of her power back into herself again and the demi-demon evaporated like dew on a leaf, her vanishing form simply passing violently, but harmlessly, through Chloe.

Chloe, who had closed her eyes when the demon had gotten uncomfortably close to her opened them with a shuddering gasp and looked up at the lights. They glared down at her and blurred again. Chloe looked down and over at the group and saw them all staring at her warily. She took on shaky step towards them before slumping sideways to the ground, unable to hold herself up any more.

Her head collided with the floor painfully and bounced once before lolling a few time and falling still. Her eyelids fluttered and the world blended together into a kaleidoscope of freaky shapes and colors.

Then they faded to black.

----XX----

She opened her eyes in the middle of a plain white platform surrounded by shadowy nothingness. She went to stand up and found that when she moved, the platform tipped and swirled dangerously under her feet. Chloe felt her heart rate speed up in panic and yelped, the sound echoing in the dark expanse, as she quickly sat back down and looked around frantically. Her frightened yelp still echoed around her, but now it was accented by unknown whispers.

"Hello?" Chloe called out, that too echoing, as she looked around for their source. Their voices grew in volume and she caught snippets of random conversation as it flowed around her:

_Did you pick up the milk, like I asked?_

_Why did it happen to me?_

_Dude, that's nasty!_

_Look, lady, there's nothing I can do—_

_Excuse me, have you seen my son?_

_Hahaha!_

_Robert! You keep your hands away from that!_

_Watch out!_

Chloe gasped and looked around in more of a fright than she was before. They didn't seem to have a source and they were growing in volume until it was suddenly so loud it was like they were standing right next to her shouting endlessly into her ear and all of their conversations melded together 'til it was just a pointless jumble of voices.

She made a whimpering noise and slammed her hands up to her ears in a lame attempt at blocking out the sound.

It didn't help on bit. It was still loud and pointless and terrifying.

Chloe grit her teeth together and folded her body down onto itself.

"Be quiet…" She mumbled in a strained voice.

It was all meaningless, insane confusion and pain.

And then, it was gone.

Chloe blinked in surprise at the sudden silence and slowly, hesitantly, lifted her hands away, leaving them hovering centimeters away from her just in case the sound started back up again. When it didn't she dropped her hands down and looked around.

"Hello, Chloe."

She nearly screamed at the sudden voice and looked around her, still unable to pin-point the voice. Behind her standing by the dark was her mother. On the other side, directly across from her, was her aunt.

Chloe stared, slack jawed and powerless as her mother shuffled her feet around and pushed her hair back, smiling at her.

"Mom?" Chloe asked, her voice shuddering unevenly. Her mother's smile widened.

"Hey there, baby." She looked her up and down. "You're big now." She smiled. Chloe nearly burst into tears but instead tried to move towards her mother.

The platform dipped again and Chloe scrambled to stay on. Her mom adopted a sad look.

"You can't move hun."

Chloe looked at her hungrily and took in every detail that she could. "Where am I?" She asked, never taking her eyes off her mother for fear that she would disappear.

"You," Her mother began looking around her, "Are in your mind. Or, more accurately, the necromantic part of your mind. All those voices you heard were the voices of either dead or soon to be dead people." She looked sad again. "I don't have much time. You're going to wake up soon because they called the ambulance, but I have so much I would like to tell you."

Chloe frowned in confusion. Ambulance? How long had she been unconscious?

"I want to say that, I didn't mean to make this happen to you." Her mother continued. "I wanted to help you, so that you didn't have much to worry about. So that it wouldn't become a problem for you." She sighed and closed her eyes as she rubbed at her forehead in a way that made her look very much older than Chloe remembered. "I don't know how to explain it so that you'll understand. I just wanted…" She stopped and looked off to the side thoughtfully.

"I am your mother and I want the best for you. I didn't want to have to watch you slowly deteriorate and I needed desperately to find something that would protect you when I couldn't." She looked at her pleadingly. "Please understand Chloe—I didn't know that they were like this. If I had…" She trailed off, letting the sentence finish itself.

Chloe nodded, fighting the urge to stand up again. Aunt Lauren cleared her throat from the opposite side of the platform. Chloe and her mother both turned to look at her. She smiled.

"Sorry to interrupt but we've got less time than we did before." She cleared her throat again. "Chloe, I wanted to say sorry for all the things I may have done that were… unsavory. I was just trying to do what was best for you." She smiled. Chloe looked at her and smiled in return.

"I understand that. I'm sorry if I ever seemed like I was immature. I tried not to be." She paused, thinking of all the things that she wanted to say but didn't have the time. She narrowed it down and awkwardly said; "I… I like Derek. I don't know how serious it is; I can't say that I love him because I'm just fifteen years old, but I certainly do like him and I hope you can approve of that." She waited anxiously for an answer. Her aunt scowled slightly and shook her head. Chloe's heart sank.

"I knew it. I had a feeling that something like this would happen." Lauren shook her head and huffed, crossing her arms in front of her. She smiled. "If you like him then you better let him know that." Chloe smiled back and laughed in relief.

Suddenly, a wind started.

At first it was a slight breeze but then it quickly turned into a hurricane, whipping Chloe's hair about and swirling her screams for her mother and aunt away. The platform liquefied and she slid, more like _fell_, through it, heading down.

Down…

_Down…_

_Down…_

----XX----

"…She's stable." An unknown voice clarified from somewhere around her. She could feel her lungs gasping and heard a beeping noise from somewhere around her. She didn't know where she was but it was as if she couldn't sit still, always bumping and jostling around. She looked up in confusion at the person sitting next to her and saw that it was, in fact, two people.

Tori and Derek. They saw her looking at them and Tori smiled shakily and waved while Derek nodded once and leaned back again, watching her carefully.

She felt safe.

She slept again.

* * *

**Phew!**

**I hope that wasn't confusing.**

**If it was just tell me and I'll try to explain whatever you didn't get.**

**Review please!**


	22. Count Thy Blessings

**So, I've returned.**

**And I brought a new chapter! A ****Happy house-warming present?**

**Anyway, fully of DerekXChloe fluff, wolf madness, and all that goodness.**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Kayka-chan: -humming Batman Theme (Trademark)-**

**Travis the SuperLawyer: -twitches-**

**Kayka-chan: Travis the SuperLawyer! The people need you to disclaim!**

**Travis the SuperLawyer: -cries- She doesn't own it...**

* * *

_Foolish_

Chapter Twenty-Two

----XX----

_To "let go" does not mean to stop caring,  
it means I can't do it for someone else.  
To "let go" is not to cut myself off, it is  
the realization I can't control another.  
To "let go" is to fear less and to love more._

----XX----

Derek _despised_ hospitals.

Partially because they reminded him of his time in the lab, and partially because when you go there it's usually never for a good reason. Oh yeah, and because they wouldn't let him be with Chloe, which was, in case you were wondering, driving him completely and totally bonkers.

He couldn't find it in him to sit still. He was up, down, pacing, pacing, down again, up again, staring at some faux plants, staring at his hands, scratching his bandages. Anything besides just sitting there. The wolf was also pacing back and forth; his head lowered unless he stopped and then he would look in the direction of Chloe's hospital room, listen attentively, and—when he couldn't hear anything—drop one ear back and whine pitifully before continuing his pacing.

Derek also found it was somewhat poetic that the only time that the wolf and he were actually in complete agreement was the times when Chloe was in danger or potentially dying.

Derek was almost certain that she had a concussion from the drop to the floor she had taken. It still gave him shivers to remember the cracking noise that her head had made when it dropped back against the floor. That was right around when he had pretty much thrown Andrew out of the way and gone over to get her.

When he had dropped down on his knee next to her, looking to see if it was a good idea to move her; he noticed that her breathing was short puffs of breath through her mouth and she had tears running down the side of her face. Derek had looked over at his dad, silently begging him to do something.

Kit had grit his teeth and looked around at the present victims. He walked to the nearest felled one and picked a cell phone out of the man's pocket. He then proceeded to call an ambulance and hanging up after he said the necessities.

When it actually arrived Derek knew that there was no way in hell that he wasn't going to be in that car with her and they could try to stop him if they could. Tori fought her way on in a similar manner. Of course, the other two wanted on too, but the Paramedics had drawn the line at two and drove away before they had a chance to get an argument going. On the way there, the paramedics asked them for her basic medical information and they answered as best they could.

They were close to halfway there when Chloe had suddenly stopped breathing, her heart rate picking up substantially before stopping all together. Derek would be lying if he said that he didn't freak out, because he did. But he was smart enough to stay out of their way when they were reviving her. Beside him, Tori had nearly broken down into tears until the sounds of her breathing and heart monitor beeping told them that she was alright.

It was almost as if he didn't believe them until Chloe opened her eyes a crack and looked over at him and then he could feel some of the tension go out of his muscles and he nodded—half to assure her that she was okay, and half to assure him that she was okay. Then of course, somewhat mockingly, she passed out again and he was right back to freaking out.

After they arrived at the hospital they had told Tori and him that they had to go get bandaged up and then wait in the waiting room just in case they needed space if Chloe went into arrest again. This did nothing to comfort Derek and he entertained the idea of punching them all out and staying with Chloe anyway. He restrained himself and just nodded stiffly while grouchily putting up with the nurses' tuts before plopping himself down in a chair, waiting impatiently until the others caught up; which brings us to the present situation.

Derek watched as the wolf stopped and looked down the hallway again. This time he turned to Derek and whined long and high, looking as pathetic as he could. Derek tried to tell him that he couldn't do anything but the wolf snuffed and went back to his impatient pacing. Derek slouched down further in his chair and sighed shakily.

He closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down. If he got any tenser, people could iron clothes on him. He sighed again, this time trying to expel any bad feelings in the process. He rolled his shoulders and rolled his head back and forth. His nose detected Dad's smell and he opened his eyes the same time that his dad rested a hand on his shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze.

Derek looked up at him and Dad nodded and smiled.

"She'll be fine." He said simply and, after one final squeeze, went back to his seat and sat down with the appearance of a patient man. Derek wished that he could be like him, but knew that it was against his nature and that he didn't get the luxury. He also wished that he could hear something from Chloe's room, but this place was so full of noises and other scents that they covered up anything that would even hint at Chloe. The only place that even had her scent any more was on him and Tori.

The wolf whined again and Derek scowled. He snapped at the wolf to stop that and the wolf turned on him, his fur and hackles rising as he cracked his jaws together irately, stating that at least _he_ had the heart to worry about his mate. Derek responded that it was impossible for him to just storm in there. The wolf snarled at him and his tail stuck out ramrod straight, and as he was clearly getting ready to say something in return, he suddenly relaxed and looked back down the hallway.

Derek looked up at the same time and saw a woman in a long white coat that marked her as a doctor clip-clopping her way down the hall with a clipboard in her hand towards them. She stopped as she got to the waiting area and looked at them all.

"Chloe Saunders?"

Everyone, aside from Lillian, stood up and looked at her expectantly. Derek noticed that the wolf didn't know whether to treat the doctor like a god for saving Chloe or to be furious at her for withholding his mate. She blinked and looked over all of them.

"She's stable now and she's going to be okay." There was a collective sigh of relief from the group. Derek felt lightheaded. "I need the parent or legal guardian." She said hesitantly, still scanning them. Derek turned and looked back at Andrew and his dad. They glanced between each other like they were trying to gage which one could pull it off until Dad stepped forward and said;

"He's not here yet." He said grimly. "Do we get to see her?" The doctor looked like she would rather eat a lemon then let them in without the parents present but she nodded and led them down the hall.

Derek heard Dad talking again.

"Do you want to come along?"

"No. I'll let you guys have your big heartfelt reunion." Lillian answered with a fake bravado to her voice that cracked.

While they were taken down a hallway with identical looking doors on either side, Derek had to restrain himself from running door to door and sniffing them for Chloe. The doctor turned to look up at him and opened her mouth like she wanted to start up some mundane conversation but when he looked down at her she stopped, scowled, and turned back around disdainfully. Derek _really_ scowled.

_Why, yes, I am in a bad mood, lady. Sorry to ruin your day._

She busied herself by looking at her chart until they got to a wooden door with a small rectangular window in it that had wires criss-crossing in it. He looked through and his eyes immediately sought for Chloe's familiar form and he caught a glance of Chloe's stomach and hands. He swallowed. The doctor opened the door after a short warning to keep the volume down and to be careful with her.

Derek almost didn't hear her. He was the first one in closely followed by Rae, then Simon, and lastly Tori who was trying to push past Simon. Kit and Andrew only peeked in and smiled and nodded when they saw Chloe looking at them through exhausted eyes. Her heart monitor beeped constantly in the background and Derek's eyes raked her form, taking all of her in through as many of his senses as physically possible.

She smelt odd; a combination of antiseptic, hospital, strangers, and her normal smell that assured him it really was her and not some odd twin.

She looked odd, too; far more frail than she ever had and she looked so tired that she could hardly keep her eyes open with thick, dark circles under her eyes. There were bandages around her arm and some pieces of tape on either side holding a wad of gauze to the back of her head where she hit the ground. A tube stuck out from her arm and attached to a fluid drip thing. The huge bed added to her dwarven appearance and her hands fiddled with the top of the blanket nervously.

He could hear her scratchy breathing and her occasional cough to dispel the phlegm in her lungs. The beeping of her monitor was getting annoying and Derek shuffled his feet.

He fought the urge to run over and squeeze her in his arms because he didn't want to break her.

Her tired eyes looked at him and her lips curved up in a small smile as she lifted her hand and waved at them all, her eyes locked with his. She licked her chapped lips and swallowed laboriously.

"H-hi." Her voice was scratchy and her voice cracked but she spoke and it was as if the dam of a river exploded and all the water came rushing out or an angel descended from the heavens and had healed her himself.

Derek sighed shakily, leaned his head back, and closed his eyes. For one of the first times in his life he prayed and thanked whatever higher being had allowed Chloe to live. He smiled a large smile and laughed he was so comforted.

Simon ran a hand through his hair and blew a huge lungful of air out of his puffed cheeks before also breaking in a wide smile and relaxing his posture.

Rae whooped and ran at Chloe who smiled a little wider and struggled to sit herself up. Rae slowed, stopping herself from chucking her body on top of Chloe's and settling for a small hug and whispers that sounded like; "You gave us all a scare, girl."

Tori was the quietest of all of them until Chloe looked at her and smiled, holding her arms out and gesturing for a hug with a nervous half smile. Tori made a semi-strangled noise and burst into tears as she walked forward and hugged Chloe, crying into her shoulder.

"I h-h-ha-ate y-you…" She grumbled at Chloe over her heaves and sobs. Chloe smiled and pat her back wincing a little.

The wolf ran in a circle, chasing his tail and yapping happily. Derek smiled looking on as Simon went up and joined the hug-fest. He held back, waiting his turn. He felt like he could wait forever if he had to as long as he could see her.

It seemed the longer she was around them the healthier she looked. Her smiled was growing wider and she didn't look as tired. She even laughed a little when Rae made a joke about Tori being emotional. Tori, never without a snappy comeback, wiped her eyes with her fingers, smudging what little makeup she still had on, and promptly told Rae to shut up.

Derek looked around for a bit before walking over to the chair by the window and sitting in it, once again returning his gaze to Chloe. She had glanced at him when he had moved but was once again forced to relinquish her attention to the other three when Rae started to talk to her. She nodded and smiled and agreed and laughed, but she kept sending quick glances his way.

He was rather proud of that.

After around twenty minutes, Andrew poked his head in.

"Guys, I think we should let Chloe rest now." He told them, smiling and nodding to Chloe when she waved. Simon told him that they'd be right out and they all said their goodbyes to Chloe. Derek stood up to head for the door behind the others and when he was about to leave Rae whipped around and placed a hand on the lower half of his chest—which was as high as she could reach without standing on her tip toes—and pushed him back.

"Uh-uh. You go make conversation with your little girly in there." And, after giving him a saucy wink, she made her way back to the waiting room. Derek blinked and smiled in confusion after her. He turned back around and walked into the room, closing the door behind him.

Chloe looked up at him and her mouth split into a wide smile.

"Hey." She said. Derek walked across the room until he was towering over her and bent down; pulling her to him in the most gentle hug that he could manage. Chloe gripped him tightly and started to shiver. He closed his eyes and turned his face into the crook between her neck and her shoulder and inhaled her sent deeply. He rubbed his hand up and down her back. After a while, he began to feel somewhat self concious and embarrassed by his reaction and pulled back reluctantly.

"Hey." He repeated, pulling a chair away from the wall to sit in it. Chloe tucked her hair behind her ear and looked at him with gentle eyes.

"I'm sorry." She said finally, her eyes shunting away from his. Derek scowled marginally.

"What for?" He asked her. She twitched and looked up at him as if expecting more. When none came she shrugged hesitantly and fiddled with her hands.

"For the mess I made." She elaborated quietly. Her eyes filled with shame and Derek felt bad. He reached forward and patted her hand a few times before leaning back again.

"You didn't make a mess." He assured her, smiling. Chloe smiled diffidently and rubbed her hand where he had patted her. They were quiet and Chloe shuffled her legs around under the covers. Derek looked at her and raised an eyebrow expectantly. She looked at him and she looked small again.

"What now?" She queried softly. Derek didn't know to what she was asking; whether she meant what now that the Edison Group was demolished, what now that her aunt was dead, or what now between them. Derek didn't actually know the answer to any of them so he just shrugged and stood up.

"I don't know, but you need to sleep." He told her. She blinked and pouted.

"But the blankets are itchy…" She complained. Derek snorted.

"I think that's the least of your problems. Just sleep." He said, gesturing toward the bed with his finger. Chloe sighed, rolled her eyes, and lay down. "I'll be outside if you need me." He walked towards the door.

"Derek, wait!" She called. He stopped and looked back at her. She struggled back into a sitting position and waved him off when he made a move like he was going to help her. He walked back over to her anyway. She reached over to the table next to her bed with a pad of sticky notes on it and ripped the top one off. She handed it to Derek. "It's my Dad's number, if they didn't already know it from my Wanted article." She told him. "Please give it to the ladies." Derek nodded and headed back to the door.

He stopped and turned to fix her with a glare.

"Sleep." He snapped at her and left. Behind him, he could hear Chloe's laugh before he shut the door.

He smiled.

* * *

**Oooh!! I wish I were an Oscar Meyer Weiner...**

**Or that you would leave some reviews!**

**Please!**


	23. Promises of Tomorrow

**I am so back! Who missed me?**

**(That's right you did.)**

**Okay, so this is the last actual chapter chapter in the story. There's gonna be an epilogue after this, though, so don't be too sad. I do hope that you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Travis the SuperLawyer: -looks at the words above- Huh...**

**Kayka-chan: What?**

**Travis the SuperLawyer: My contract expires right now. Yes!! -rips off spandex-**

**Kayka-chan: -pouts- I thought it looked good on you...**

**Travis the RegularandWaytooSmugLawyer: I know it damn well looked good on me, but I shall preserve my manliness while I still have some left.**

**Kayka-chan: Wh...what am I supposed to do?**

**Travis the RegularLawyer: I'll disclaim this one last time. She does not own the Darkest Powers.**

_

* * *

_______

_Foolish_

Chapter Twenty-Three

----XX----

_Go, ill-sped book, and whisper to her or  
storm out the message for her only ear  
that she is beautiful._

----XX----

It was tense. There was really no other word to explain it.

Derek cleared his throat again and tapped his fingers together nervously whilst looking around the room.

Chloe's dad sat across from his staring at him so hard it felt like he was burning holes in his soul. He just looked at him. That's all that he had been doing for a good five minutes and the only thing that he'd said to Derek was;

"You. Follow me. _Now_."

And Derek decided that it would be a good idea to do that seeing as pissed off fathers were always the ones to have on your side.

He wasn't sure why he was so mad, other than the obvious points, but he didn't know what Chloe had said to him the whole time he was in the room with her. He entered in a somewhat desperate state and left in a very, very angry state.

The poor man had every right to be angry, though, so it wasn't like Derek was taking it personally. I mean, he would be mad too if he found out all of the stuff that he had in the short span of time that Chloe had done her explaining. Especially once he found out that he had been tricked by the Bad Guys. Perfectly understandable. Completely normal…

_He was giving him the stink-eye again!_

Why wasn't he saying anything? Derek fidgeted and clicked his tongue, hunching over to try to make himself seem smaller. The ragged stubble on his face and exhausted bags under his eyes made him seem just that much creepier, too.

Sort of like the psycho killer that murders boys who like his daughter…

He swallowed and scratched his head.

"Derek…" Her dad spoke and Derek jumped in surprise. Her dad looked semi-apologetic. "That is your name, right?" He asked.

"Yes." Derek mumbled. Her dad nodded.

"Well," He continued, clearing his throat and sitting up straighter. "There seems to be a long history between you two." He was talking about Chloe and Derek. He pretended to have no idea what was going on.

"Excuse me?" Her dad sighed.

"All this…stuff." He said dismissively. "This ridiculous business with the… Edison Group? I just… It makes me so… upset." He grumbled and scratched his stubbly chin. "I'm doing the best I can but sometimes, especially right now, I wonder if her mother could do better." He was quiet for a spell, looking off into space sadly at the mention of his deceased wife. Derek shifted, even more uncomfortable with this subject than the one he expected.

"I think you did fine…" Derek ventured carefully. Her dad scoffed.

"Oh, sure I did. She's a lovely young lady with manners to boot and I barely know her." He sounded bitter. Derek sympathized for him. "I want the best for her and I always have, which isn't always an easy thing to give. I have had to work insanely hard to get where I am, but at what cost? My own daughter was nearly _murdered_ by the people I thought were good for her." He seemed to just be talking to himself now, but Derek listened anyway.

He went on, mumbling, and Derek tried to tune him out to give him a little bit of privacy. The poor guy was pissed off, confused, and tired; he deserved a bit of mumbling/crazy time. Derek pushed his hair out of his face in irritation and ignored the wolf's curiosity at this strange man that smelt of Chloe.

She was still doing good, and the doctors and nurses were a lot happier about them being here now that Chloe's dad had given the okay on the matter. They recommended at least a few more days in the hospital for observation. Everyone was allowed to be around, but only during visitation hours; which was exactly where everyone was at this time. What else did they have to do?

Well, Andrew had gone home after he had apologized to Chloe's father properly and done a bit of explaining himself, claiming that he needed to do some clean up. Dad had said much the same thing, heading to their home in Buffalo that had been vacant for a long time.

"…She talked about you a lot, you know." Derek tuned back in when her dad seemed to be talking to him again. He blinked and made a questioning grunt. "Chloe. She talked about you a lot. Apparently I owe you plenty of thanks for all the times you have saved her." He cleared his throat and suddenly his whole demeanor changed. "Speaking of you and my daughter…" He trailed off and cocked an eyebrow at Derek who felt uncomfortable again, "What are you to her? Or, better yet, what is she to you?"

Derek opened his mouth and closed it again, trying to think of the best way to put this. What was he supposed to say?

'Why, Sir, your daughter is my mate! Yay!'

Yeah, that would only go over very badly. Derek weighed his options and took the cautious path.

"What's she told you about me?" He asked tentatively. Her dad cocked his head and fixed him with a look.

"She said that you are a werewolf." He said, a short flicker of fear reaching his eyes and his scent. Derek ignored the typical reaction and waited for him to continue. "She said that your being a werewolf didn't mean you run around eating people under a full moon, that you aren't dangerous unless the people who are important to you are threatened, and that she has some pretty strong feelings for you."

Derek blinked at the last one, and couldn't help the small, satisfied smile that wormed it's way onto his face. It was good to know he hadn't chased her off.

"So, answer the question, son." Her dad leaned forward so that his elbows were on his knees. "What is she to you?"

Derek momentarily contemplated going with the mate explanation but he decided that it would be a bad way to get a father's blessing on a relationship if he used the wolf terminology. He looked down at his fingers and ran his tongue over his sharp canines before flicking his eyes back onto her dad's face and raising his posture to one of proud disposition.

"She's someone who is very important to me." He answered. The wolf puffed his chest up proudly. Chloe's dad blinked and leaned back again observing him. Then he started to nod.

"I respect that. You have my permission to go ahead with whatever you were planning. Oh, but, Derek," He said as he heaved himself to his feet. "Don't break her heart." He finished with the customary father warning before he wandered off towards Chloe's hospital room.

Derek smiled and relaxed. The wolf's tail began to wag wildly and his tongue lolled out of his mouth in a wolfy grin. There was the sound of footsteps and Derek turned in his seat to look at Simon who was coming over, looking down the hallway at Chloe's dad's retreating back.

"That looked tense." He said playfully. Derek rumbled out a laugh.

"You have no idea." He paused thoughtfully. "I think he thought I was over eighteen." He commented dryly. Simon laughed.

"I wonder why." He said sarcastically. He sat across from Derek in the seat that had previously been occupied. He sobered up and looked at Derek apologetically. "Anyway, the reason I hunted you down was so that I could apologize." He said, grinning sheepishly. Derek cocked his eyebrow. Simon cleared his throat. "I was being a jackass. You got Chloe and I was interested in her and I was being a sore loser. It was totally unfair of me and I wanted to say sorry." He paused and waited awkwardly. "So, sorry." He said finally.

He sat there and waited and Derek felt better. He had noticed that Simon seemed a bit resentful about Chloe and him, but he had been a little busy trying to escape the laboratory at the moment to actually sit Simon down and worm the reason out of him.

"So am I forgiven?" Simon asked ineptly. Derek chuckled.

"Obviously."

"Sweet." Simon said and turned sideways in the seat, tossing his legs over the arm. "So, what, do we hug all dramatic like and proclaim everlasting brotherhood, or something?"

"There is no way in hell that I will do that, _ever_, much less in a public hospital." Derek responded wryly. Simon hooted with mirth.

"Me too, bro." He said, chuckling. "Me too."

----XX----

Chloe actually got to be released early.

Part of it was due to the fact that she was in far better shape than they had originally though she was, and partly because they were tired of everyone's "shenanigans". She was wheeled to the doors in her special little wheelchair and, when she arrived, was helped from her seat with the assistance of a nurse and her father, then she was out of the hospital.

Her father graciously extended the invitation for Rae, Tori, Simon, Derek, and Kit to come to dinner with them so that he could properly thank them for watching his daughter. He had invited Andrew and Lillian to come, also, but they courteously declined. Andrew said that he really wanted to just stay home.

Lillian had informed him, as matter of factly as she could—wearing her latest fashion disaster complete with knee-high, completely mismatched socks under flip-flops and some pink shorts, with her fluffy hair frizzing out in all directions, thereby giving her the illusion of a sort of crazy person—that she needed to catch the next camel out of town because she had a few lawns to kill.

He was politely disturbed but didn't argue with her. Derek and Chloe watched her leave and, with one last wave of her hand, she turned the corner and they never saw her again. Though, a few years into the future, Chloe would swear left, right and sideways that she saw a flash of her on the news channel in India, trying to yank her purse out of the grasp of a particularly persistent monkey.

They ate at Applebee's, which isn't exactly the fanciest restaurant, but it was close and all of them were hungry enough to not care. Pleasant conversation was had between the two fathers and the rag-tag group of Supernatural freaks that they were relished in their last night in their abnormal little world.

Then came the time to say their farewells.

Chloe's father and Dad had gone off under the pretense of calling Tori's Dad and Rae's parents to give them all a chance to say what they needed to say in the relative privacy in the front of Applebee's. Simon and Rae wasted no time complaining how much this situation sucked.

"It's not like we'll never see each other again." Chloe said, ever the optimist. Derek didn't doubt it but Tori, Rae and Simon looked like they had totally and completely forgotten that they all lived in the same state which he so keenly reminded the group.

"Oh yeah. Huh, odd." Simon said, cocking his head to the side thoughtfully. "I totally forgot about that." He shook his head smiled. "Though, it'll still feel odd. You know, not having you guys around all the time." Rae and Tori both rolled their eyes at the same time while Chloe smiled.

"It will be, but we'll get used to it." She assured them. It was quiet for a bit before Rae suddenly tossed her arms wide.

"C'mon, people," She proclaimed loudly, ushering a surprised Chloe and indignant Tori closer. "Group hug, group hug!" Simon grinned and laughed. Derek planned on staying back, not really all for the close range contact thing, but Chloe and Simon grabbed onto his sleeves and tugged him in. "Okay, Genetically Modified Freaks on three, ready?" She said like a coach pumping up his team before a game. "One, two, three; Genetically Modified Freaks!"

She was the only one who hollered it, but Simon and Chloe were laughing. Tori had a grudging smile and Derek was also wearing his own content one. They all dropped arms, but Chloe kept a firm grip on Derek's sleeve. He looked down at her curiously. She smiled up at him.

"Goodbye." She said. He smiled. Rae made a groaning noise and began her own little chant for them to kiss. Chloe blushed and Derek had to admit that it made him a little bit annoyed, especially when Simon joined in and Tori looked away pointedly.

Chloe was desperately trying to get them to quiet down when Derek reached out, grabbed her wrist, twirled her around, and laid one on her mouth. She gasped into it and he leaned back smiling while Rae and Simon cheered in the background.

She put a shaking hand to her mouth and he had to chuckle at her dusted cheeks. She looked up at him quizzically and he leaned down to her ear.

"I'll see you soon."

* * *

**So, how was it?**

**Tune in soon for the Epilogue!**

**Review please!**


	24. Tidy Ends

**I'm back!**

**Try not to cry; This is the last chapter.**

**I know, I know! I'm sad too. I've actually really enjoyed writing this and I thank any reviewers and my Beta: LilaCupcake376.**

**You all rock, and please enjoy this last chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Kayka-chan: -sniffles- Goodness, I love weddings. Travis isn't here because his contract ended as soon as I finished typing the last word of the chapter, so I'm doing this by myself--**

**Travis the Lawyer: Kayka-chan.**

**Kayka-chan: -gasp- Travis...? Is it really you?**

**Background noise: dramatic soap opera music.**

**Travis the Lawyer: Yes. I couldn't leave you. I just... I realized something.**

**Kayka-chan: Yes? -hopeful-**

**Travis the Lawyer: Kayka-chan... I realized that I want to trade my Yu-gi-oh cards with you. With, only, you.**

**Kayka-chan: Oh, **_**Travis**_**!**

**Kayka-chan and Travis the Lawyer: -sucking face-**

**Background noise: She doesn't own Darkest Powers or Yu-gi-oh.**

* * *

_Foolish_

Epilogue

----XX----

_Later, though, drawn together by  
a distaste for such 'untidy ends'  
they agreed to meet again; whereupon  
they giggled, reminisced, held hands  
as though what they had made was love-  
and not that happier outcome- friends_

----XX----

"You're still here?"

Jennifer, turned and looked at her sister, smiling before she turned back around to watch her daughter at her wedding through the looking-glass.

"I wouldn't miss Chloe's wedding for the world." She answered matter-of-factly. Lauren chuckled ruefully and sat down on the stool next to Jennifer.

"Have I missed anything important?" She asked and leaned forward. Jennifer shook her head and beamed proudly.

"Steve just handed her to that Derek fellow." She laughed, "You should have seen the poor boy's face; he looked as if he was about to faint." Lauren smiled serenely and they sat and listened to the couple recite their vows; Chloe's matured voice sounding simply melodic on the happiness of her wedding day and Derek's deep rumble contrasting nicely.

They had faced plenty of troubles, but it had all paid off properly for them.

"Oh, there's Andrew." Lauren said, pointing to a man looking uncomfortable in his tuxedo, but happy nonetheless. "He aged well." She commented fondly. Jennifer giggled girlishly at Lauren's obvious crush.

"It'll never work." She said dryly and in a completely serious manner. Lauren laughed.

"Dang, and I was so hoping that dead people turned him on." She commented, snapping her fingers in an 'oh darn' motion. Jennifer laughed and then shushed her sister. They listened fondly to the two young adults say their 'I do's' and the priest nodded saying his final words with a wide grin on his face.

Chloe gleefully handed her bouquet over to Tori and leapt at Derek, slamming her mouth to his. He clasped his arms around her petite middle and held her up to him; the two of them laughing through their kiss as their guests cheered. He placed her back down and leaned back up, the newlyweds both positively beaming.

"That's my girl," Jennifer said proudly. Lauren laughed.

"Didn't you do the same thing at your wedding?" She asked, still giggling. Jennifer snorted.

"I tried but Steve wasn't as strong as Derek is. I knocked him over, if you remember."

"Of course I do."

They were quiet for a few moments then Jennifer said;

"So what do you think? Is their first child a boy or a girl?"

* * *

**Alright, in case anyone was confused: It was Chloe's mom (Jennifer) and her Aunt (Lauren) watching Chloe's (Chloe) and Derek's (Derek) wedding from Heaven, or wherever they may be pertaining to your particular belief.**

**Thank you for your support over these months, and I ask for one last time:**

**Review Please!**

**Goodbye!**


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